Tyler's Honest Herbal: A Sensible Guide to the Use of Herbs and Related Remedies (4th Edition) 1st Edition

I just read a 5 star review by "A Customer" that was written very thoroughly and hadn't planned on adding one of my own until I grazed through the 1 star ratings filled with way too much emotions to be taken seriously. I'm a RD and a college professor highly recommended this author stating he was studying herbs long before their popularity. Although he was viewed as a bit odd for his choice of studies back then, now he is highly respected by the medical community.Mr Tyler states numerous times that the potentially beneficial chemical compounds of these herbs are best found in the fresh plants and are lost (or their preservation cannot be assured) during the process of making pills. It's just like the whole foods notion. Less processing means more nutrients/benefits.

I wish it had more pix, there are so many plants out there, it would have been great if there were pix to be totally clear about the exact plant in question.

Arrived promptly and the book came in a condition I expected. Enjoyable and evidence-based read useful for deciphering the good from the bad, the truly useful from the potentially harmful.

Very good and quite comprehensive.

Loved it

This book will appeal only to people who have vested interest in playing down the effectiveness of herbal products - such as pharmaceutical companies, physicians and others who wouldn't make any money if people didn't need their services any more and were able to heal themselves or maintain good health naturally through the use of herbs.The title of the book is a misnomer. Tyler doesn't offer any information on how to use the herbs - as a matter of fact, from the way he describes them, you'd be sure he never ever touched, or tasted any herb. If you're read this book, you'll discover that there's no point in using any herbs because there are only two categories for herbs in this book: they either fall in the category of worthless or deadly.Tyler does his best to downplay or completely disparage the effectiveness of every single herb mentioned, and when he is unable to prove that the particular herb is ineffective, then he states that even though the herb was empirically effective, there is no sufficient research to back it up.The book is basically loaded with information on why you should not bother using any of the herbs listed in this book - either because in Tyler's opinion they are ineffective or they could be dangerous. And for the herbs that have been proven effective and were in use for centuries, Tyler states how "pharmaceutical industry" lost interest in these herbs. Of course they lost interest - how would they have interest in herbs if they cannot patent that are available everywhere? On the other hand, because of people's interest in herbs, you'll find shelves at your drug store loaded with natural supplements. Some people just don't want to poison themselves with pharmaceutical products (for that matter, you may want to check out compenium of pharamceutical products to find out how deadly side-effects of those can be).If pharmaceutical industry can not make money, why would they still be interested? And to state that this book is free of commercialism, just "honest" herbal - what a joke!For burdock, which is a blood purifier, Tyler further states "in spite of its long use as a folkloric remedy, no solid evidence existst that burdock exhibits any useful therapeutic activity." (Burdock happens to be one of the four herbs which have proven very effective in helping people heal innumerable diseases, cancer being one of them, because it does help to detoxify the body.)About Chickweed, Tyler writes: "Despite the fact that it is prominently listed in almost every catalog of herbs currently available and also that many writers describe it as a valuable herb, I can think of no good reason to allow space to this worthless weed. ... Let's not waste any more time and space on the imagined medicinal value of this ineffective herb." (On a personal note, chickweed is a popular herbal supplement for weight loss...)And, well, I can only suggest that you invest your money in some other, decent and honest, herbal that actually offers some useful information regarding the use of herbs. Do consult a genuine herbalist who is truly interested in helping people. Tyler's heart only beats for pharmaceutical industry.

Very technical book.

As prof Tyler is not alive anymore and as I don't know what changed in the new edition, I would suggest the book only for those who would like to have a "honest insight" in the herbs that Prof Tyler seems to have studied.Indeed we should not forget that Tyler had a huge knowledge and was highly respected in his field as I understood.To write that a herb is "useless" just because nothing special was discovered in the laboratory [until now] is just American short sightness [myopia], as has so often be the case in all areas of medicine in the U.S.A.I think things are rapidly changing to the good.PLEASE, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS BOOK.............there are so many really honest books on the market.Herbal thearapy by Winston, Modern herbal dispensitory, the excellent books of Matthew wood, all great books, etcDon't know why Stefen Foster was prepared to take part in this book.