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Title: A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine by Nigel Wiseman, Ye Feng, Feng Ye ISBN: 0-912111-54-2 Publisher: Paradigm Pubns Pub. Date: June, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $125.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Essential for Serious TCM Students and Practitioners
Comment: It'll take you forever to get through it- it's big, and it's a dictionary. Wiseman is the only scholar out there who has advanced a standard for Chinese medical translation. Until someone comes up with something better, it's the language we'll use. This dictionary is also packed with loads of useful clinical info you won't find anywhere else. It's pricey, but if you want the real Chinese Medicine, I'd suggest you keep it on your list.
Rating: 4
Summary: A colossal effort
Comment: The dictionary is a labor of love on the part of Nigel Wiseman and Feng Ye. As others have often observed, writing a dictionary is a thankless job and indeed, the authors have received little credit and much blame for their efforts. The price of admission is steep, the subject is still exotic in the English-speaking world, and many of the term choices are gratingly neological; such a work goes underappreciated for these and other reasons.
There is no question that many of the language decisions made in this work fly in the face of conventional approaches to translation. A translator by training before taking up the study of Chinese medicine, I can say without hesitation that this was not how translation was presented to us as students. The idea of a mechanically consistent, bidirectional set of terminological equivalents would have been frowned upon by my mentors. The goal of the method, however, is both laudable and clearly stated: to create English language Chinese medical terms than can be directly traced back to their Chinese origins by means of a dictionary. This approach is rife with difficulties, but in this early stage of importing Chinese medicine, it seems to be the road we must inevitably travel. I've been known to openly express frustration with some of the work at hand (which is, notably, very much a work in progress), but I must admit that it is an enormous contribution to the field and that it is infinitely preferable to no such work at all.
The Dictionary is organized alphabetically by English language terms, with Chinese characters and Pinyin romanization with tone marks, as well as an English-language definition, for each entry. The quality and length of each entry varies considerably, and one must often read several entries scattered throughout the dictionary in order to understand the meaning of a single term, but then, that is the nature of Chinese medicine. The Dictionary definitions, despite their inconsistency, comprise a wealth of information previously not available in English about a wide range of Chinese medical topics.
The index includes both English and Pinyin terms. There is no way to look up terms by their Chinese characters, so one must use additional works, such as Wiseman's English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary of Chinese Medicine, when trying to read a Chinese text. This is disappointing, but such an index would have added another 150-200 pages or so to the already massive size of the book, which would simultaneously have further increased the cost.
Those who wish to read English-language publications using Wiseman and Ye's terminology will find they cannot do without this dictionary. Students and practitioners who wish to experience more of the world view of Chinese medicine will find many rewards between its covers. Would-be translators (myself included) will discover a valuable resource in the Dictionary, despite the persistent need for several others. It is only by use that the true value of this book may be revealed, and only by use that its shortcomings may be addressed.
Rating: 5
Summary: A New Cornerstone for Chinese Medicine in the West
Comment: Every so often a book comes into existence that exerts a powerful influence on the zone of life for which it was intended. This new dictionary falls into this category. Since its arrival it has already become a lightning rod for discussion and debate concerning the whole conduct of the translation and therefore the transmission of traditional Chinese medicine into English and English-speaking areas. The authoring of dictionaries is a thankless task. Samuel Johnson, no stranger to this work, noted that mankind tends to consider the writers of dictionaries as the slaves of science. The work of Nigel Wiseman and Feng Ye reflects a deep sense of service to their chosen discipline, but far from being slaves they stand in the vanguard of a liberating force that is developing in Chinese medical studies. We all owe them our thanks for having put so much information between the covers of a single volume that can be used to forward the development of deeper understanding of this complex subject. To illustrate the utility of the book, I just came from a visit to the office of a friend, an MD who practices acupuncture to whom I recommended the dictionary when it was first publised. "Thanks for turning me on to this book," he said, pointing to the Practical Dictionary beside his desk. "I use it every day."
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Title: Fundamentals of Chinese Medicine: Zhong Yi Xue Ji Chu by Nigel Wisemann, Nigel Wisemann, Zhong Yi Xue Ji Chu, Andy Ellis ISBN: 0912111445 Publisher: Paradigm Pubns Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Statements of Fact in Traditional Chinese Medicine by Bob Flaws ISBN: 093618552X Publisher: Blue Poppy Pr Pub. Date: 01 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Web That Has No Weaver : Understanding Chinese Medicine by Ted J. Kaptchuk ISBN: 0809228408 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 11 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: A Manual of Acupuncture by Peter Deadman, Kevin Baker, Mazin Al-Khafaji ISBN: 0951054678 Publisher: Eastland Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $130.00 |
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Title: Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica by Dan Bensky, Andrew Gamble ISBN: 0939616157 Publisher: Eastland Press Pub. Date: January, 1993 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
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