Chinese Pulse Diagnosis: A Contemporary Approach (Revised Edition)

First of all, the missing star is because I havn't finished reading it yet and wish to be honest aas to my knowledge of the book. I started a pulse diagnosis course the same week I recieved the book. This gave me a huge and helpful leap into it. Hammer, as he does is his wonderful book "Dragon rises red bird flies", has captured a view of chinese medicine not found in other sources. He lies somewhere in the vast plain between the Maccoicia TCM taught in most schools today and the very spiritual and sometimes non-clinical thinking of Larre and De la Valle. This book is a happy middle. Very clinical and hands on yet so different from and far more complex and colorful than the usual training of pulse diagnosis taught in the schools. Highly recommended for the more in-depth curious and dedicated practitioner (whom I hope I am...).

This is another outstanding book by Dr. Leon Hammer. This book continues with many of the psycho-medical and five element themes Hammer used in his first book Dragon Rises - Red Bird Flies. This text is easy to read. The concepts are easy to follow. The writing is comprehensive and fairly ties many schools of thought and other predominant TCM texts together. This book is good for practitioners of all skill levels and schools of thought. This is a must read for any serious TCM practitioner!

Having taken the basic level of instruction in this type of pulse diagnosis, I have to say that even with support, the very comprehensive nature of this massive tome is challenging. On the other hand, what Dr. Hammer is intending to do is to clarify and perhaps enlarge a particular method of pulse diagnosis. It is a refreshing change from what to my thinking is an endless rehash of quotes from Classic volumes translated from Chinese, or rewrites of same. Li Shi Zhen's work notwithstanding, we need more people to bring this type of material forward if pulse diagnosis is to be promoted fully here in the west. Dr. Hammer has tried mightily to be specific and describe both the pulse qualities and their implications from both his and his teacher Dr. Shen's point of view. Anyone wishing to see a more complete (if frighteningly detailed) discussion of pulse diagnosis should at the very least read and give some serious thought to what's presented by Dr. Hammer here, even if they are skeptical about the approach. This book should taken seriously by all English speaking Chinese medicine practitioners, whether they ultimately agree with it or not. It has that much to say. I myself am still trying to get a handle on the initial material. The book has few competitors in english in terms of detail and possible clinical benefits for the reader. What I have already got from it has changed my practice.

I was looking for a book that can teach me the secrets of pulse diagnosis but the problem was the terminology. I went to seek help from aryvedic practioners but could not comprehend. "Chinese Pulse Diagnosis" is a readable and highly informative approach on the subject. Pulse diagnosis is a difficult art to master and more difficult is its teaching. Leon I. Hammer has used the latest method of teaching for this ancient art which I hope will give a new life to art. I understood many things of the art for the first time though I read them in many other books before.