The Web That Has No Weaver : Understanding Chinese Medicine: Amazon.ca: Ted J. Kaptchuk: Books

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East Asian medicine has made a dramatic and unlikely migration. Read the first page

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10 Reviews

5 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

3.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Classic?, Aug 19 2000

By

Phylis Wheeler, LAc (Granada Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Web That Has No Weaver : Understanding Chinese Medicine (Paperback)

This book is considered required reading for every acupuncture student and is often recommended for patients who are interested in learning more about the medicine. I find it too difficult for the layman. and the text becomes laborious. Exploring the wonders of Chinese medicine should be exciting and enjoyable. There are many books which fulfill this with excellent illustrations. As students we found the book less than helpful and few ever finished reading this tome. As a practitioner, it sits on my shelf, but I have never referred to it.

My recommendations for the beginner in these studies are:

1. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Chinese Medicine by Tom Williams

Great pictures, easy to read. Have it my waiting room. Most read by my patients (next to the Chinese astrology books).

2. The Chinese Way to Healing: Many Paths to Wholeness by Mischa Cohen, LAc

Mischa presents the medicine clearly and has easy to follow suggestions for self care.

3. Healing With Whole Foods, Oriental Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitcford

Integrates Oriental and Western nutritional knowledge. Excellent resource for layperson and practitioner alike.

4. ANYTHING by Giovanni Maciocia or Dan Bensky

5. A Manual of Acupuncture by Peter Deadman and Mazin Al-Khafaji

As a professor of acupuncture, I have found this textbook to be one of the best attempts to integrate all of the translated material and organize it into a very readable reference. Excellent, invaluable resource for students and practitioners alike.

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1.0 out of 5 stars The author misrepresents his academic credentials, Nov 27 2011

By

Ben Kavoussi (Los Angeles Reader) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Web That Has No Weaver : Understanding Chinese Medicine (Paperback)

The back cover of this book states that "Ted J. Kaptchuck earned his doctorate in Oriental Medicine from the Macau Institute of Chinese Medicine in 1975." However, an investigation by the former Chairman of the Committee for the Quality of Medical Practice at the Massachusetts Medical Society, Dr. Kimball Atwood, has shown that the Macao Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine HAS NOT BEEN one of the higher education institutions in Macao, and HAS NOT BEEN a degree-conferring academic institution. Documents I have obtained from the California Acupuncture Board under the California Public Records Act, confirm that Ted J. Kaptchuck, does not have a doctorate in Oriental Medicine from the said Institute.

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4.0 out of 5 stars More Technical than you may want, but an eye-opening classic, Feb 11 2004

By

M. Savoie "waxnwane" (Bound Brook, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Web That Has No Weaver : Understanding Chinese Medicine (Paperback)

This text is often refered to as the classic introduction to Chinese Medicine Theory. Because I am not a practitioner of Chinese medicine--or of Biomedicine--I cannot comment on its accuracy of portraying its subject matter. (I have heard that various texts abound with differing interpretations.)

I can say that the book is known as a classic, and it is HIGHLY DETAILED. It illustrates very well how Chinese Medicine is completely different from the view of health we are used to in "The West". For example, instead of diagnosing someone with cancer, or arrhythmia, or bronchitis, a diagnosis sounds something like dampness affecting the Spleen, Deficitent Kidney Yang, Congealed Blood, etc... (These are not respective equivalents for the western diagnoses cancer, et al.)

And Blood, Kidney, Spleen, Spirit, and a host of other terms that look familiar to our eyes take on larger meanings than we are used to.

What I liked best was the chapters on Meridians and on Organs, showing the organization of energy and systems of the human body.

Other later chapters got extremely detailed. While this was more than I wanted, it was fine, I just skimmed them without trying to memorize or really remember too much. Just get a basic sense of how there is a completely different approach to health and illness, which showed me that different possibilities and viewpoints always exist. I definitely enjoyed the book despite being more technical than I wanted. It opened my eyes.

(I am a massage therapist with just a pinch of training in "5 Element Theory" and Shiatsu, which is accupressure.)

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING, COMPLETE, THOUGHT-PROVOKING
I found this book to be the most complete resource on Traditional Chinese Medicine. It goes through the introduction and goes to quite deep details of the basics, the diagnoses,... Read more

Published on Jun 8 2003 by Vanessa

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening Primer on TCM and Taoist philosophy
Lent to me by an acupuncture and herbal doctor, I originally read "The Web" without any prior background and found it extremely enlightening. Read more