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Home > Reviews > Handbook of Chinese Herbal Formulas

Handbook of Chinese Herbal Formulas

By Him-che Yeung, L.Ac., O.M.D.

Handbook of Chinese Herbal Formulas
Handbook of Chinese Herbs
by Him-che Yeung, L.Ac., O.M.D.
published by the Institute of Chinese Medicine
602 San Gabriel Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770

Reviewed by Doug Eisenstark L.Ac.

The Yeung Herb books are back! Rivaling Bensky/Gamble in their usefulness are these two English-language small-press formula and single-herb books by Him-che Yeung, L.Ac., OMD, Ph.D., painter. Out-of-print for several years, these two paperbacks became dog-eared by those acupuncturists/herbalists lucky enough to have copies.

While the Bensky/Gamble books are especially strong in narrative explanations, the Yeung books are compact handbooks that are perfect for clinic and classroom work. For example, each of the formulas in Chinese Herbal Formulas is confined to one page and includes:

Formula Title in Pinyin,

Taiwanese version,

English Translation,

formula contents with dosage,

actions and applications,

indications,

tongue/pulse and contraindications,

modifications

generic name when applicable.

All herbs and formulas are further identified with clearly printed Chinese characters.

The new editions of the herb book have some pharmaceutical information.
What makes these two books so special is their simple elegance. Much as I like New World Press's Medicinal Herbs and especially Mew World's Herbal Formulas, they can be a bit awkward to use. I had to spend several hours to create an index for the entries for the two books. I now have to take an extra step using the index to find the desired herb or formula. Because I know the herbs and formulas best by their Pinyin names (sorry, Bob) the two Yeung books are incredibly easy to use. Those who know them by pharmaceutical names may find other books more to their liking.

Included in the front of are short descriptions of the major herbs by categories. A very readable guide to the preparation and index by patterns is also good. Further helping are indexes for TCM and Western diseases. The Herb Handbook also includes well-drawn illustrations of the herbs.

The new editions have benefited from computer word processing and layout. While the earlier editions of the books were type-written and hand-caligraphed with Chinese characters, the recent books are professionally laid out with crisp characters. While she laments in the introduction about using the computer, her patience and perseverance in mastering the complicated beast has resulted in another generation of two classics.

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