Book excerpt: This book is a clinically oriented presentation of differential diagnosis and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine. This volume consists of eight series of case studies (40 in all), each focusing on a variety of patterns associated with a common clinical disorder: asthma, facial disorders, poor appetite, abdominal and epigastric pain, abnormal bowel movements, abnormal urination, constraint disorders, hypochondrial and intercostal pain. Each case provides a systematic analysis of the patient's presentation, from the cause and site of the disorder to the underlying theory of the case. The pathogenesis, pattern of disease, treatment principle, and modalities of treatment (including both herbs and acupuncture) are described in illuminating detail. The authors, themselves both clinicians, then pose a number of questions that are likely to confront the practitioner. More than a hundred charts organize and present in graphic form what is explained in the text. Each chapter concludes with a diagnostic overview or tree that summarizes the process of differential diagnosis for the patterns associated with that disorder. Patterns & Practice in Chinese Medicine will be of particular value to the developing practitioner, as well as the student who is making the transition from the classroom to the clinic.