Chinese and Related North American Herbs.Phytopharmacology and Therapeutic Values.Second Edition

摘要

This is a large book with large aspirations as it seeks to describe similarities and differences between medicinal species used in China and in North America. The idea of the book is challenging and it has some importance for the development of the use of plants in both alternative medicine and as a potential source for industrial product development. However, the book holds big surprises for the reader. Of its 705 pages only 4 are text pages proper, while the remainder consist of tables, literature, appendices and indices. The book is a compilation of the data on the subject published in the literature in English and presented schematically and without analysis. Although in the Foreword to the book Ernest Small, PhD, states that the book is a work of genius and a superb and invaluable synthesis, a detailed reading of the content may lead one to dispute this view from the standpoint of formal scientific evidence, botany and chemistry, and from that of existing and potential applications. Nevertheless, the book can be read in a critical spirit by botanists and other specialists.