Chinese Medicine from the Classics – A Beginner’s Guide

Sandra Hill – Monkey Press – ISBN 978 1 872468 15 0

Chinese Medicine from the Classics – A Beginner’s Guide from Sandra Hill fills a nice niche for students (experienced or not) of Chinese Medicine. This is 220 page book fulfills the need for a deeper look at the basics of Chinese Medicine through the words of the classic literature including the Neijing Suwen and Nanjing. Its a needed resource for students just starting out and for more experienced practitioners (especially teachers) to look at for sources for their studies and practice.

Covered are yin yang theory, Dao, channel theory and the Extraordinary Vessels, the emotions and the organs. As well it has a long discussion of the Hun, Po, Zhi, Yi, Shen with new insights. Having co-written a Fundamentals book I know how difficult it is to clearly explain these concepts in an introductory text. Had it been out a few years ago I would have quoted from Chinese Medicine from the Classics (perhaps too extensively) in my own book.

Like many books from Monkey Press (Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee and Claude Larre) the text emphasizes character analysis without being overburdened by it.

Despite the “classics” label the writing is contemporary and relevant to our time. This is a much needed book and hope that it will be required reading in Fundamentals classes for students in our Chinese Medicine schools.