Prescription for Herbal Healing
An Easy-to-Use A-to-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies
by Phyllis A. Balch
This is a wonderful book for anyone who has even considered utilizing the healing powers of herbs. The full title really does say it all; it is clearly written, well organized, and includes a very wide range of information, on both on over 200 herbs and herbal formulas themselves, and on well over 150 different ailments. The newest beginner would be able to pick up this book and be able to safely take care of many of the simpler ailments; to those more advanced, this provides rich, in-depth information on treatments - with both traditional and scientific sources. It is a wonderful resource to have in any herbal library!
Of course, no book can cover every medicinal herb or conceivable use for them, but this text is much more comprehensive than many available today, and in a much more in-depth yet easy-to-use format.
In Part One, you learn about all of the different herbs and herbal formulas. Each herb has on average an entire page (which, considering the size of this book, is a lot of space.) Some, like Ginseng and Milk Thistle, take multiple pages. It includes both the common and Latin names of each plant, a description of the plant itself, a discussion of the evidence of benefit for various ailments - including scientific research to back up many of the claims, and considerations for use - both where to get it, how to use it, and any safety precautions there may be.
In Part Two, you get the opposite lookup method - by ailment. There is a massive list of ailments, with an equally massive amount of information for each one, many spanning several pages. You are given a brief discussion of the ailment, a list of beneficial herbs and how best to use them, herbs you should avoid, recommendations - which include many non-herbal methods to help the condition, and considerations - again, suggestions for use of the herbs as well as scientific notes and other things to consider when trying to combat the ailment.
In Part Three, various techniques - both herbal and complementary to herbal healing - are discussed. Some, like Foot Baths, are under a page, whereas some, like Relaxation Techniques, take several pages.
The book also includes a Glossary and a considerable list of Resources in the form of Appendices, as well as a thorough Index.
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