Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa

"Celestial Lancets" is written by one of the top academic researchers on China, Joseph Needham, in collaboration with his Chinese wife. It is part of his encyclopedic "Science and Civilization in China" series. It is written by a serious academic, for other serious academics or practitioners of acupuncture and moxa who want to explore as deeply as possible the history and understanding of these two ancient practices of Traditional Chinese Medicine. There are no less than three bibliographies broken down by language and dates.

This study of two ancient therapeutic techniques of Chinese medicine gives a full account of both methods in the theoretical structure of Chinese medicine, combined with a rationale in the light of modern scientific knowledge.

Needham is neither a starry-eyed believer in TCM, nor is he a scientific disbeliever. He simply explores the history to a very great, detailed depth, and then does the same for some of the western science that has been done (this chapter alone being almost 75 pages), letting the evidence show for itself. It should be said that the goal of the book seems to be history and explanation of acupuncture and moxa, not an attempt to PROVE the system to the most skeptic of Westerners.

It is a very good book for its purpose, probably ground-breaking in many of its insights. But, it is not for beginners who are just trying to get an accurate, broad overview with less historical detail. Or just use it as a reference book, rather than reading it cover to cover. Western skeptics of TCM should begin by reading the conclusion on the last two pages, a good idea also for the mildly curious.

The writing style is not challenging, just the pace of the writing for the nonacademic. A better introduction for the layman (again, not the purpose of "Celestial Lancets") would probably be "Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine" by Ted Kaptchuk, the second edition.

• Title: Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa (Needham Research Institute Series, 1)
• Author: Gwei-Djen Lu
• List Price: $54.95
• Amazon.com Price: $43.41
• You Save: $11.54 (21%)
• Paperback: 427 pages
• Publisher: TF-ROUTL; 1 edition (October 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700714588
• ISBN-13: 978-0700714582
• Book Dimensions: 10 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches

Tags: History of Acupuncture