Reviews

G. Williams: Great find, March 17, 2009 

Luckily for me, I ordered my copy of Classical Chinese Medical Texts early, because this is sure to sell out. For years, I’ve been half-heartedly studying Chinese so that I could read something interesting. Each time I take up the practice again, I find myself learning words like window, car or vegetable. With what Mr. Goodman has produced with this book, I will be able to read something worthwhile within months rather than years.

D. Eisenstark: April 11, 2009 

I picked this book up a few weeks ago through the authors website. It’s been really helpful in some of the work I’m doing now. It’s written by a North American who graduated acupuncture school and sometime later did what many of us want to do and a few of you have done, namely transported themselves to China to learn more Chinese medicine and particularly the language.

This book is a small educational text on reading Classical Chinese Medical language. What makes it especially nice is that it is very well designed and easy to understand. One can see how he transported notes of his studies into this book format. It’s not especially ambitious and that perhaps is its greatest strength. Goodman knows what it takes to learn this material and he doesn’t try to teach you everything nor is the book dumbed down. This book is really made for a person like the author which is also to say a person like me and perhaps you too… someone wanting to read ancient medical Chinese but can get overwhelmed and confused at the task ahead.

ChMedDoc: Best of Class, March 17, 2009 

I own every book on Chinese medical language available, and this one exceeds the others by far. If your goal is to really get into the classics and read Chinese medical texts, then you can’t miss this book.

Everyone from beginners who are highly motivated to those with some knowledge of Chinese will benefit from this book. I had always hoped I would be able to gain the necessary skills to tackle classical Chinese medical texts, and this book has provided me with those.

I only wish the book was a little longer, and almost took away one star because of this. However, after reading through it briefly once, I found that the author covered so much detail in this work that adding more would be overwhelming for beginners. Everything you need to build a great foundation in ancient medical texts is here. Buy this book!

J. Pannozzi: Outstanding Introduction, April 28, 2009 

Richard L. Goodman has provided a wonderful and badly needed book that gives the first really useful and practical introduction to classical medical Chinese.

In addition to the carefully graded text, starting simply and then building up, Goodman provides clear and beautifully concise textual notes, easy to understand grammatical points and typically used character patterns that will soon have the reader actually reading and understanding selections from ancient texts.

Goodman also takes the trouble to note sticking points, something many authors gloss over in Chinese language books. It is sometimes just this extra bit of work that can make all the difference for the harried (and sometimes hurried!) language learner. Also, in explaining various grammatical points, for example the Chinese way of saying “its”, Goodman not only explains the use of the Chinese character to express this meaning in a totally clear and easy to understand manner, but he actually includes several example sentences to drive home the point. Needless to say, the example sentences include the Chinese characters, pinyin readings and English translation. Like everything else in the book, he has done it right!

Unlike some books I’ve seen that don’t bother to put the accents over their hastily added pinyin, Goodman of course includes these and it is obvious that every aspect of the book has been carefully thought out to ease the journey for those interested in reading classical Chinese language texts so that it becomes a pleasant walk in the hills instead of a perilous climb in the Himalayas!

J. Gonzalez: For the Serious Student, April 15, 2009 

I definitely recommend this book, I never would have imagined the ease and relative success this program offers for even the non-Chinese speaker. I found that with repetition and review I really was recognizing and reading Chinese characters as opposed to skipping the Chinese and opting for the translation, this adds layers and depth into understanding the original texts. I love this opportunity and am amazed at it’s accessibility. For all serious students who have the courage to take the next step. Enjoy.

ESK 79, a great book, 16 Jun 2009 

This is the best introductory book to Classical medical Chinese I have found so far. It is friendly in its size, concise and clear, especially the grammar notes. Each chapter has just the right amount of information making learning Chinese a less daunting task compared to other books out there.
There is no emphasis on writing so if you want to learn how to write characters this is not the book for you.
Things that could be improved: make a little bit clearer where the texts are taken from (rather than just having it in the index) and a bit of polishing up from a visual point of view. But overall it is a great book and I am looking forward to the second one.

ThomasS, March 10, 2009: 

I have to say that in my 25 years of Chinese medicine experience, I have never seen a book quite this important to the development of the field. What Mr. Goodman has done is quite impressive!

There is a lot I could say, but to be brief, this book makes classical Chinese much more clear than it has ever been to me. There were so many times I have been reading and said to myself  “Oh! That’s what this means!” There are many gems in this book.

If you have any interest in having a tool that allows you to enter into Chinese medicine more deeply and with more clarity, then buy this book.