Question:
I'm looking for recommendations on books on herbs and herbal medicine. I'mvery interested in changing my habits and using more herbs and herbalproducts.

Answer: Here's some of the favorites at our store:Herbal Prescriptions for Better Health by Don Brown NDVery basic, uses about 12 major herbs (all easy to find, all without majorside-effects) to cover most common ailments. In other words, the stuff thatshould always be in your medicine cabinet, or kitchen cabinet...

Healing Power of Herbs by Michael Murray NDEncyclopedia of Natural Medicine by Joseph Pizzorno ND & Michael Murray NDMore exotic stuff, lots of biochemical explanations, more complete coverage ofunusual health problems. I'm not sure that you need both books in your homelibrary, but one or the other is extremely useful. If you're going to get theEncyclopedia, get the new 2nd edition that just came out this year -- it's beenexpanded to nearly 900 pages, covers lots on vitamins and nutrition as well asherbs.

Home Herbal by Penelope OdyComplete Medicinal Herbal by Penelope OdyBoth are extremely beautiful books, with lots of color illustrations andexplanations of growing, picking, and preparing. The former is a littlesmaller; the latter deals with some slightly more exotic herbs (not the stuffthat you need every day).

Paul Bergner's Healing Power seriesBergner has done a series of books on individual herbs. The most popular hasbeen the Echinaccea/Goldenseal title, which concentrates those two, withadditional information about other immune system herbs. Well researched.

The Natural Pharmacy by Skye Lininger DC et alVery similar to Nutritional Healing (Balch) in format, but with a biggeremphasis on herbal remedies. This is a real quick read book -- very shortconcise entries. Not a book that I grab when I'm trying to figure out howsomething works -- more a book for a quick check on what others prescribe for aproblem.

As everybody else mentioned, the list goes on and on. I just got copies ofTeeguarden's new book on Chinese herbs today, so this is a field that seems tobe expanding at a rapid pace. Check back through the FAQs, and you'll findlists of recommended books. If you're on AOL, use keyword: "Alt Med" and go tothe Reading Room section. You'll find lots of reviews there for herbal books.