I just finished reading this book. I appreciate the thoughtful layout and historical context the author gives in this book. Full description of over a hundred different herbs and their actions. The author is a long time practicing herbalist which is a must for me when choosing books.Maybe not very useful for the beginning herbalist. Since there is so much material beginners might find this book overwhelming.Simply beautiful!A feeling that one can trust the experience of the writer and try it out...........Not just Western "laboratory proven compounds" ,but life as it is with pearls hardly showing up in any other herbal.Added in April 2012:As I wrote already: worth trying out all the pearls brought by the writer.As the book is now available as Kindle one can easily search in both books edited by the writer.I wrote Amazon to consider to improve the already nice search function of books offered by Kindle. [I have only Kindle om my PC]Being able to search as a PDF [and even to combine books as a PDF] would tremendously increase the efficiency of using study books in all fields and I can assure Amazon: it would tremendously increase the sale of study books by the company in my opinion[suppose the company is interested............]This PDF possibility [with full protection for Amazon so that the books can't be "forwarded"]should not be too difficult technically , I would think.Let's hope!From reading this book ( which now is my reference from now on) it is obvious hard work on research from past books, even years of 1700 has put forward by the knowledgable author . I was skeptical on few things like calendula working on infection, tried some of its cream on my son's bike wound, it worked better than topical antibiotics. As far as few eccentric reports on Betonica ( I won't spoil it for you but it had information on " treating people with unwanted Alien abduction!") , that actually shows the fearless nature of author which I liked. He just reported it as is without fear from scientific community. Very often authors throw away good anectodal reports that actually were useful due to this fear but I didn't see that here. There could be patients with PTSD for example that could benefit from this data.Thank you Master Wood you have done a life time work!DTVery easy to read with excellent information.The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism (by the same author) is the key to Western Herbalism, This book is the materia medica that describes most of the Old World plants' properties within that system, along with anecdotes on successful usage and the types of people they work best on. A crucial reference for finding the right plant, I also look forward to studying the volume on New World plants after this one.The Earthwise Herbal gives a summary of how the system works, enough to use what's in it, but I highly recommend getting the earlier book as well for a full understanding. After that, reading any other herbalism book will be much easier, as you'll quickly recognize the energetics of a plant and how to use it from its list of properties.Perfect Read! Covers many areas. I’m new to herbalism and this is the book to getThe content of this book is wonderful. So glad to have it in my library.My only complaint is the typesetting of the book. It's an old fashioned type that is not very easy on the eyes. An unfortunate choice.And worse, the titles of the herbs in the Materia Medica don't stand out - the subheadings are in all caps, while the name of the herb is not. The herb names are the beginning of a new listing and should be larger and bolder than the subheadings and have more space before them so you can find the herbs more easily.Should a new edition come out with better print, I will spring for another copy and sell this one.Complete with historical references and a great reference section. This book details much of the written literature from ancient Greek to modern times. Herbal properties and usage fall in line with other herbals. The author promotes a philosophy of holism and plant properties that may not be scientific; however, has the flavor of the ancient midwife/herbalist/healer that was the way of determining what herb to use for what ailment. Great book to use for historical reference, cross checking herbal remedies, and perspective for those of us on the herbal healer path.great book, the main one I use whilst studying herbology.Very comprehensive.Thank you so muchproduct as advertisedVery good, informative book.Great book on herbalism that I just purchased recently. Information about medicinal plants that any practitioner would need. Highly detailed as well on what the plants do. The purchase was quick and easy as well from Amazon. The delivery was prompt as well.