by Eric Brand

Our esteemed colleagues Marnae and Kevin Ergil recently won first prize in the prestigious PROSE Awards for their book “Pocket Atlas of Chinese Medicine.” This year’s PROSE (Professional and Scholarly Excellence) Awards received a record-breaking number of entries, more than they had ever received before in their 34-year history. Over 60 publishers submitted titles, and Marnae and Kevin’s book won first prize for the subject category of Nursing and Allied Health. Congratulations to the entire team!

It has always been difficult to find the perfect book for TCM 101 students or passionate laypeople that want to learn more about Chinese medicine. While Ted Kaptchuk’s “Web That Has No Weaver” has long been a mainstay in this category, Marnae and Kevin’s Pocket Atlas of Chinese Medicine has taken the subject to a whole new level in terms of clarity, scholarship, and design. Published by Thieme International, a major German and U.S. based medical publishing house, the “Pocket Atlas” contains contributions from a number of outside experts in addition to the powerhouse team of Marnae and Kevin Ergil. Simon Becker (Switzerland), Stephen Birch (The Netherlands), Mary Garvey (Australia), Michael McCarthy (Ireland), Anne Reinard (Luxembourg), Yves Requena (France), and Douglas Wile (USA) also contributed to the book, and it features a beautiful design with lots of great color photographs.

In all aspects, this book has pioneered new ground in terms of an introductory textbook. The authors of many introductory texts cannot read Chinese and thus have limited access to the primary Chinese literature. In this respect, the Ergils completely blow away the competition. Their material is thoroughly grounded in accurate sources and they have preserved the technical accuracy of the material while still making the subject accessible to readers that are new to Chinese medicine. This is no easy endeavor. The book provides an essential introduction to all the main branches of Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, tui na, qi gong, and dietary therapy, and it does an excellent job illustrating the rich history and cultural factors that surround Chinese medicine.

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Striking the right balance between depth and accessibility is a true art, and Marnae and Kevin did a fantastic job in this arena. There is real substance that will make the book a great text for professional students in their early years of study, and even experienced practitioners would pick up some gems by reading this book. The terminology is fundamentally the same as that used by advanced texts within Chinese medicine, so students that started with this book would have a smooth transition to advanced materials. Gaining a solid foundation at the beginning is essential for a lifetime of learning, and this text has the potential to be a true cornerstone to build upon.

Beyond the benefit to Chinese Medicine 101 students, the Pocket Atlas of Chinese Medicine also offers biomedical doctors and lay readers the opportunity to gain an authentic overview of Chinese medicine. It is clear and easy to read so it is accessible to interested patients or complementary health professionals, but it doesn’t water down Chinese medicine or present an overview that wouldn’t pass the muster of peer review. In many ways, this is the first time that such a book has ever emerged.

Blue Poppy publishes dozens of advanced books on Chinese medicine, and our authors have collectively helped to flesh out the literature in a variety of different specialties. Recently, we have expanded to add a few carefully-selected titles from other publishers, each of which fills an essential niche in the field. Such selections include the Shang Han Lun, Concise Chinese Materia Medica, the fantastic series of books by Jiao Shu-De, and Wiseman and Feng’s essential Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine. Marnae and Kevin Ergil’s Pocket Atlas of Chinese Medicine is also featured in our catalog, and we are proud to offer this text to our customers.

Personally, I think that every student should get this book within their first year of study. Even better would be to get this book the year before starting school, because it would arm the student with the background knowledge to hit the ground running. If I ran a school, I would order dozens of these books for the admissions department, and give a copy to every sincere prospective student. While the book is not cheap ($50 or so, if memory serves), it would make a tremendous impression on the prospective student and it would get the first class started off at a whole new level. Such a gift would create goodwill for the school (I’m sure the school would make back their investment) and it would allow them to save endless headaches at the beginning of the program, when there tends to be a wide gap between the students that really “get it” and the students that spend several months still trying to get a handle on basic concepts. Practitioners might also like to keep a few copies on hand for patients that truly want to learn more about Chinese medicine.

While they tend to keep a low profile in upstate NY, Marnae and Kevin are some of the most knowledgeable authorities on Chinese medicine in the West. Every time I visit their school (Finger Lakes School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine of NYCC) I get a little pang of jealousy for their students. I often wonder if the students in upstate NY fully appreciate what heavyweight experts they have teaching their classes every day. From all of us here at Blue Poppy, we’d like to say congratulations to Marnae and Kevin on the PROSE Award!