The Yellow Monkey Emperor's Classic of Chinese Medicine
Living Now Book Award, 2017
A horse complains of a chest as tight as a bear’s embrace, a goat bleats about skin as dry as parchment, and a rat describes his urine as darker than soya sauce. Join these lively characters and their friends as they seek diagnosis from wise animal sages and the yellow monkey emperor.
Covering 78 syndromes of Chinese medicine, these cartoons graphically illustrate the disturbances and illnesses that can affect the organs of the body, or Zang Fu, as they are understood in Chinese medicine. They are accompanied by a concise list of symptoms for easy diagnostic reference. Combining Damo Mitchell’s deep knowledge and experience with Spencer Hill’s witty cartoons, this is a fun way to learn, remember and be entertained by the syndromes and their symptoms.
Covering 78 syndromes of Chinese medicine, these cartoons graphically illustrate the disturbances and illnesses that can affect the organs of the body, or Zang Fu, as they are understood in Chinese medicine. They are accompanied by a concise list of symptoms for easy diagnostic reference. Combining Damo Mitchell’s deep knowledge and experience with Spencer Hill’s witty cartoons, this is a fun way to learn, remember and be entertained by the syndromes and their symptoms.
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Reviews
Harmony plays a big part both in Chinese Medicine and cartooning. Not only must the cartoonist produce amusing drawings, but each drawing also needs to clearly communicate its concept, whether serious or funny. Cartoons which are intended as aids to understanding and memory introduce one more vital requirement to the harmony - a deep knowledge and affinity with the concepts being conveyed. Spencer Hill's cartoons harmonise these ingredients beautifully and, coupled with Damo Mitchell's expertly and clearly written text, will enable any reader to balance laughter and learning with the greatest of ease.
It's entertaining and holds attention, yet many concepts are explained in simple visual form. The emphasis is on symptoms, including behavioral and mood symptoms in concert with the physical, and in diagnosis.
The book is divided into sections based on seasons which are relevant to the ailments they cover. I found it both interesting and entertaining, though I had hoped for information on what herbs might be used for the conditions and maybe even acupressure points. It is meant to be a starting point and in that it succeeds. I have a much better idea of what Chinese medicine is about for having read it and I enjoyed the humor along the way.
It's a fabulous text book. If you're a student who learns through visual cues, this is the Chinese Medicine book for you. The graphic novel, comic strip style, travel story is punctuated by diagrams summarizing the main symptoms of each problem, so it's easy to navigate through the book... More text books should be put together like this. Perhaps this approach to learning would be exactly the way to engage visual learners in all sorts of subjects.
As someone whose knowledge of Chinese medicine has primarily been limited to the negative cultural stereotypes that exist in the United States for such practices, YME (Yellow Monkey Emperor) was a perfect place to begin. By pairing words and images with stories, it became more plausible as an outsider to understand the methods, the reasoning, and the potential treatments for these ailments than I believe would have been possible otherwise... All-in-all, The Yellow Monkey Emperor's Classic of Chinese Medicine is a fun, beautifully colored comic introduction to Chinese medicine that I recommend to anyone.