A Guide to Chinese Medicine on the Internet

Citation

Fourie, I. (2009), "A Guide to Chinese Medicine on the Internet", Online Information Review, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 618-619. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520910970022

Although a well‐researched publication such as A Guide to Chinese Medicine on the Internet can certainly be highly recommended to all interested in the topic, its scope and thoroughness also justify that libraries focusing on traditional or Western medicine include it in their collections.

Ku Wai Fan is well qualified for the job of putting together a publication that will guide those interested in various aspects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) using the internet as a reference source. The work does not promote any specific type of CAM, and also states clearly that it should not be used for self‐treatment without consulting a doctor, or as the sole source for treatment decisions.

The main topics covered include traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, herbal, Taiji and Chinese massage, as well as Qigong and related fields. The book consists of an introduction and seven chapters, with an excellent, extensive index. The terminology relevant to Chinese medicine as CAM, and the classification and evaluation of websites are discussed in the introduction. This is followed by a chapter dealing with portals and general websites. Chapter 2 is concerned with various organisations and their websites, while Chapter 3 offers examples of libraries linked to organisations and universities. Chapter 4 offers examples of websites in the main schools in the field in China, North America, Europe and Australia. Chapter 5 explores journals and newsletters in the field. Databases, bibliographies and electronic texts that can be consulted for information are dealt with in Chapter 6, while the last chapter focuses on history and philosophy.

Although the content is well edited and there is an excellent index, the table of contents does not do the book justice. When looking only at the contents page, it is difficult to distinguish, for example, “Organisations” as a title for Chapter 2, from “Organisations” as one of two headings in Chapter 3, which is called “Libraries”. Despite this shortcoming, Fan's work is recommended as an excellent guide to authoritative sources selected for their quality and the intention of keeping the reader from using Google or other search engines as a first point in finding information: “… simply using a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo, to look for information will not necessarily lead one to quality resources, and is more likely to provide a large number of unordered results to sift through”.