ARTICLE IN PRESS
Phytomedicine 15 (2008) 389–390
BOOK REVIEW
Jing Nuan Wu, An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica,
Oxford University Press, New York, ISBN 0195140176,
2005 (hardcover $124.50).
How sad that the editor of this 700-page tome, Dr. Jing
Nuan Wu, died before seeing the completion of the
elegant, pictorial work An Illustrated Chinese Materia
Medica. He would have been proud of his daughter,
Elizabeth Yng-Wong, for her efforts to bring the final
English version to fruition. The uninformed reader can
‘‘google’’ the editor’s name and learn that Dr. Wu
pioneered the use of acupuncture and Chinese herbal
medicine in the Washington, DC area for many years
before his death in 2002. Such was his renown, not only as
a leader in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) but also
as an artist and translator of ancient Chinese works, it was
reported that the band Steely Dan named a song after him
on their 1975 album, Katy Lied (http://www.herbalgram.
org/youngliving/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2460).
An illustrated Chinese Materia Medica is a book about
TCM with special emphasis on herbal medicine. In her
acknowledgment, Ms. Wong states that its purpose is to
‘‘broaden the scope of medical and botanical knowledge
in the hopes that it leads to the ongoing refinement of
the healing process around the world.’’ She thanks
Dr. Xinzhong Qian, China’s former health minister, for
his assistance but is unclear about the role he played in
the book’s assembly. By the same token, although
Ms. Wong names others who helped her following her
father’s death, their contributions are not clear, and the
reviewers would have appreciated seeing their bio
sketches.
The Introduction comprises 27 pages of the historical
development of Chinese herbal medicine, theoretical
bases of herbal use and traditional Chinese medicine,
and general rules for combining herbal products. Then,
monographs of each of more than 300 plants cover more
than 600 pages. Each monograph is laid out with
remarks on the left-hand side of the page and an
illustration of the plant or plant parts (or animals in
some cases) on the right-hand side. The remarks consist
of the pharmaceutical name; English names; part used;
flavor, property, and channel tropism; functions; clinical
uses and major combinations; dosage and administra-
tion; and precautions. The monographs are targeted to
provide guidelines for the preparation and use of herbs,
doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2006.05.011
www.elsevier.de/phymed
basic ideas about their uses and combinations. There
follows an Appendix sans illustrations similarly describ-
ing minerals, insects or insect parts used in Chinese
herbology. The book concludes with a Selected Biblio-
graphy and Glossary of terms.
This is the first fully illustrated English version of the
Chinese Materia Medica. It is a data bank of substances
used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The
translation appears to be done well, and the font used
is easy on the eye. The colored, artistic renderings are
strikingly beautiful.
The Introduction to An illustrated Chinese Materia
Medica traces the history, theories, and development
of Chinese herbal medicine through thousands of
years. The contributors draw extensively on the rich
literature in Chinese medicine as well as on their own
experience and expertise to explain the Eastern philoso-
phy. This philosophy is antithetical to the Western
healthcare belief, which targets treatment specifically at
disease-affected organs. To their credit, they present
the central ideas of Eastern philosophy in an under-
standable way. Still, it is hard to translate or convey
these difficult to grasp concepts to a general Western
audience.
It is difficult for readers who are not steeped in TCM
culture and philosophy to conceptualize restoring an
individual’s harmony with nature through the use of
herbal combinations. Readers should not be surprised
that there is no evidenced-based medicine or decision-
making contained in the book. They should not expect
to find any chemistry, pharmacology, or referenced
research support or proof of evidence for alternative
medicine treatments here either.
According to a 1998 study in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, more than four out of
10 Americans use such treatments as herbal remedies,
spiritual healing and acupuncture. With people increas-
ingly seeking and using alternatives to conventional or
Western medicine, one response has been to expand
graduate programs in alternative medicine. This book
should be a useful resource for students of naturopathic
medicine as well as practitioners of naturopathy. It
should be useful resource to acupuncturists (who are
herbalists) and to library and information resource
professionals (e.g., drug information center staff).
Others to whom this book can be recommended include
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
390 BOOK REVIEW / Phytomedicine 15 (2008) 389–390

medicinal and pharmaceutical chemists, pharmacolo-
gists, and people connected with the herb industry. It
cannot be recommended for lay persons who wish to
self-medicate.
On the ISBN identifier page, in a small font, a
disclaimer cautions readers about the variability of
doses used in herbology. This important message
should have appeared in the Introduction and high-
lighted in the section titled Doses. Herbal preparations
are usually used in detailed and specialized combina-
tions to produce a ‘‘better’’ effect or ‘‘balance’’ each
other. Each monograph provides a ‘‘laundry list’’ of
herbs used in combination with the one being consid-
ered. There are no details, however, about which
combinations are the more popular ones or about
whether or not they should be taken together or in
reduced or full doses.
Joseph Kwadwo Fordjour, Norman L. Katz
Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, University of
Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA