This book is truly a 'complete' guide to almost anything you'd want to know about essential oils and aromatherapy. As someone who works with such things on a pretty much daily basis, this book is my cornerstone of information. Any time I need information on usage or recommended oils, this is the first place I look, as it has everything, from Essential Oil First Aid, to Cooking with Essential Oils; and, of course, your basics, such as perfumery and massage.

It is written in a very clear, concise way that is both easy to use and to understand. It is written as a series of entries/articles, each about a very specific topic. Each of them are about a third of a page or less, yet still very informative and thorough, covering all the basics you need to know, and much beyond-the-basics information as well. This is one of the reasons that it manages to be so concise; each article is completely independent of the next, grouped together by a general subject into chapters.

The index is probably one of the best features of this book; it is very complete and thorough, as is most of the book, and you can use the book for many years without having to look anywhere but the index to find the information you need.

Another aspect that is highly useful is the charts in the appendices. They are quite informative, and can help clear up confusion about `which oil is which', since there may be multiple names for a single oil.

In addition to what this book obviously has - in-depth information on essential oils and other aspects of aromatherapy - it also has to its advantage a vast amount of `other' wholistic information, such as dietary suggestions and environmental recommendations.

One of the few downsides to this book, for those of us in the US, is it was written in the UK, and they use different terminology for many things, so finding the information you need can be tricky at times.

All in all, this book is definitely a must-have for anyone interested in essential oils or aromatherapy.

I think this is a good concise book on essential oils (and I have many in both English and Italian, giving the aromatherapy perspective from England, North America, Italy and Germany). However, I caution you all to ignore Wormwood's advice on using essential oils on animals. Wormwood recommends the use of certain oils including tea tree oil, lavender and others on cats all of which are highly toxic to felines. Before buying this book, I had instinctively known to never use any essential oils on my two cats (I think mainly because whenever I would use tea tree oil or lavender on myself, they would avoid me like the plague). But when I saw these same oils highly recommended in Wormwood's book for use on cats, I foolishly thought that if it's in print, it must be true. So, when one of my cats got an abscess on her hip from a cat bite, I tried Wormwood's abscess treatment using tea tree oil (only a couple drops) on her. She frantically tried to get away from me as I tried to apply the drops and then within about 15-20 minutes, started acting very ill. Thank God I had the common sense to stop the treatment, did a search on Google and found out that in fact, tea tree oil as well as a number of other oils that Wormwood recommends are highly toxic to cats - their livers cannot process certain oils and become poisons in their systems. I've even read reports of kittens being killed from low dosage applications of tea tree oil. I would say this is a very good reference book for applications on humans but if you care about your pets, do more research on your own to find out the facts about using essential oils on animals. You might just save their life. If it hadn't been for the dangerous misinformation in the pet section, I would have given the book 4 stars.

I started as a relative novice when I bought this book. I have a total of 6 in my library now, but this is the one I use the most - hands down! A novice can understand it but the depth of knowledge is good. It isn't just one of the recipe books that are out there. She offers alternatives when you don't have exactly the oil for a blend. I have solved several frustrating health issues by using this book as the author recommends. If you can only buy one, buy this one.

Very detailed, easy to understand book. I love it. It's a book that will be kept by your bedside for references as these beautiful natural oils have a zillion ways to be used. If you use any of the recipes found in this book, you'll be afresh and alive spiritually and physically. Great affects!

Author did her homework and shared with us all of the beautiful gifts given to us on this Planet in words and explanation. Bravo!!

A friend had this book and I would read it every time I was at her house. There are discriptions and uses for many oils that could/should substitute store bought products. Her child was having problems with lice, therefore a small community of people had a problem. We used the brand name product over and over to no avail. Then we found the natural recipe and got actually got RID of the lice in a few applications. There are great recipes for fleas for dogs and cats; and the section on keeping creepy crawlies away is good AND safe for your family and house, plus smells tons better! I love this book!