The main section of this book is an A‐Z listing of different natural ingredients used in food, drugs and cosmetics. Each entry is listed by its common name, although the scientific names are given in the text and indexed to aid finding the one you want. Each entry gives information about where the ingredient comes from, a description, its chemical composition and pharmacological effects, how it is used, how it is available commercially, and references. Within the section on uses it covers medicinal, pharmaceutical and cosmetic uses, food, dietary supplements/health foods, and traditional medicine, so it covers a wide range of different uses for all the items in the book. These range of uses, as well as the overlap between the chemical and botanical properties, are what makes this book different to others available; a book in a third edition it is obviously a well used resource within the field.
Leung's Encyclopedia is well laid out and covers a whole range of different ingredients, which shows the spread of natural products used in food, drugs and cosmetics. Each section within an entry is clearly identified and the same headings are used throughout to aid comparison. It is a very interesting book to look through as it includes a lot of common cooking ingredients; for example, mint, ginger and rhubarb all have medicinal properties. One thing to note, though, is that for a book about plants most of the content is chemistry – chemical composition, pharmacological (and biological) activities and toxicology.
The third edition has expanded and updated the entries and has added a new section on traditional Indian medicine and the nine most commonly used herbs in India, as well as an introduction to Ayurveda and how it is practised. The second specialist section is on ingredients used in Chinese cosmetics, which covers the history of cosmetics in China and the most commonly used herbs. As the main entries in the rest of the book cover a variety of different herbs from different places round the globe, I am not sure of the value of separating out these two selections. Although the introductions to each are a good overview of the history of use in these countries, I would think there could also be value in sections on the traditional medicine in different places to complement these and to enable the reader to compare across the globe.
References specific to each entry are provided and numbered within each entry where relevant. The general references relevant to a number of entries are listed at the end of the book and are referenced through the text by the surname of the first author in small capitals. The references seem exhaustive and include a range of classic seminal works and up‐to‐date research. At the end there is a glossary/list of abbreviations that covers mainly the chemical terms, as well as a list of botanical terms and a morphological description of plant organs with drawings to illustrate the differences between them. The general index seems very comprehensive and there is also a chemical index. These drawings in the appendix are the only illustrations in the book.
This book is mainly aimed at people working in the relevant sectors (creation or preparation of food, drugs and cosmetics), but would also be usable by non‐specialists interested in chemistry. The inclusion of the lists of chemical and botanical terms as well as the diagrams of the plant shapes makes the book more accessible to non‐specialists as well as helping those who are specialist in one area and need guidance in another. Overall it is an interesting book, but not one that will find a place on many bookshelves.
