"The book aims to describe how homeopaths approach the task of treating patients and to discuss the aspects of the homeopathic method that are characteristic of this intervention and essential to its practice. The author states his intention to consider the implications of the homeopathic method, both for the practice of homeopathy and for their relevance to other approaches to health care practices. The book is not intended to be about therapeutic method, but rather to lay the foundation for that by discussing the information that homeopaths need to gather and the observations that are needed in the process of treating a person using the homeopathic method. The book is aimed at a wide audience: Students of homeopathy may use the text as a study book, experienced homeopaths can use it as a starting point for debating the therapeutic method, general readers of medical texts may find the description of the phenomenon of homeopathic treatment interesting, sceptics may be given food for thought and everyone interested in clinical method is likely to find something of relevance in the text. The first chapter provides a brief introduction to the homeopathic approach to illness, the significance in homeopathy of an individual’s natural history of illness and the natural history of the healing process as observed in homeopathic case management. “The basic principles of homeopathy” includes the similia principle, the significance of individual symptoms rather than pathognomic symptoms and the meaning of the therapeutic response. “General issues of management” includes a discussion of the roles of time and attention and the importance of these in the homeopathic consultation, the intentions of treatment and potential outcomes of treatment and the multifaceted nature of the healing process. Case taking is described in comparison to other medical practices and the unique features of homeopathic case taking illustrated, including the need to pay close attention to language and its meaning. The significance of symptoms, how these are evaluated and their role in determining the prescription are described. The concept of constitutions in homeopathy is described and discussed and its relative place in prescribing is presented. The role of aetiology in treatment strategies is presented. The potential and limitations of homeopathic treatment are addressed and different treatment strategies are described. The patient’s response to the prescription is described in terms of its significance in case management. Implications of the homeopathic approach as discussed. The book achieves its aims in presenting a detailed description of the homeopathic approach and the significance of this in terms of its implications for therapeutic effect. Although homeopaths have long understood the powerful effects of this, it is not necessarily apparent to those unfamiliar with homeopathy that it is in fact an intervention with a number of components in addition to the homeopathic remedy. Thus this book is important in drawing to the attention of those unfamiliar with homeopathy the complexity of the homeopathic method and its clinical significance. For students of homeopathy it sets the scene of a homeopathic consultation in all its intricacy. Although implicit in the ‘classic’ homeopathy texts, the value and significance of the processes that occur and determine selection of the remedy are not described in detail or discussed. However this book does achieve a description of the entire homeopathic method, using clear and illuminating examples from cases, referring to the fundamental principles of homeopathic philosophy and discussing these in the light of contemporary understanding of the value of the whole intervention. This is an excellent companion text for students of the classic textbooks of homeopathy and I would recommend it for all students of homeopathy as well as experienced homeopaths. "