That's a very interesting question. I have not relied on any course for herbs, as really a correspondance course is just the same as buying a bunch of books and reading them. Plus most correspondance courses specialze their topic such as only Chinese herbs.

I've done really well just by reading books by Dr. Vasant Lad, books on Chinese herbs by various authors, and the next book I want to get is by Michael Tierra, as he mixes both Ayurvedic and Chinese thinking.

I also enjoyed reading Julia Child's web page, as she address the problem that I noticed with chinese herbal medicine - the issue of estrogenic herbs.

www.sensiblehealth.com

And when I need to remind myself of what herb does what, the Web has every herb catalogued SOMEwhere. :)

Happy reading! :)

Hi:

I posted the same question last month and Bob Mantz (curezone team) responded to me with a suggestion to try the Master Herbalist course at www.gifam.org I registered for the course and received my materials a week later. I have only spent about 10 hours so far reading the materials since I have a full time career and other commitments. Like you, I want to learn for my own personal knowledge and do not plan to set up a practise (but this could change later on).

Since I am basically starting from a general knowledge base and limited free time, I felt that a structured course would be better for me. The textbooks, videos, course layout, sample tests and final exam as well as the student forum which allows one to post questions to the advisors and other students is well worth the money.

Good luck in your studies,

Anne


Bob has taken this course recently and would be a good person to answer your question.