At TCM colleges in China, undergraduates learn a basic repertoire of between 50 and 100 herbal formulas. This includes one or two formulas from each of 21 major categories. By learning to modify this core group of formulas with additions and subtractions, one will have a basic repertoire of formulas for most clinical occasions. This book is not meant to replace or compete with Bensky & Barolet's Chinese Herbal Formulas & Strategies. It is meant as an outline for prioritized study and use by under-graduates and new practitioners
Bob Flaws (born 1946) is a practitioner of and prolific author and translator on Chinese medicine. He began his study and practice of Chinese medicine in 1977 under the late Eric (Xi-yu) Tao of Denver, Colorado and continued his Chinese medical education at the Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine from 1982 to 1986. In 1982, he and his wife, Honora Lee Wolfe, established Blue Poppy Press which eventually grew into Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado.