Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice
Format: Hardcover
ISBN13: 9780670831371
Hardcover|9780670831371
✨ Featured Offer
Used, Very Good
$8.46
List Price: $22.00
🚚
See all 5 offers from $7.03 FREE standard delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Overview
"For thousands of years, healers have used plants to cure illness. Aspirin, the world's most widely used drug, is based on compounds originally extracted from the bark of a willow tree, and more than a quarter of medicines found on pharmacy shelves contain plant compounds. Now Western medicine, faced with health crises such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, has begun to look to the healing plants used by indigenous peoples to develop powerful new medicines. Nowhere is the search more promising than in the Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest, home to a quarter of all botanical species on this planet - as well as hundreds of Indian tribes whose medicinal plants have never been studied by Western scientists." "In Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, ethnobotanist Mark J. Plotkin recounts his travels and studies with some of the most powerful Amazonian shamans, who taught him the plant lore their tribes have spent thousands of years gleaning from the rain forest. For more than a decade, Dr. Plotkin has raced against time to harvest and record new plants before the rain forests' fragile ecosystems succumb to overdevelopment - and before the Indians abandon their own culture and learning for the seductive appeal of Western material culture." "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice relates nine of the author's quests, taking the reader along on a wild odyssey as he participates in healing rituals; discovers the secret of curare, the lethal arrow poison that kills in minutes; tries the hallucinogenic snuff epena that enables the Indians to speak with their spirit world; and earns the respect and fellowship of the mysterious shamans as he proves that he shares both their endurance and their reverence for the rain forest." "Mark Plotkin combines the Darwinian spirit of the great writer-explorers of the nineteenth century - curious, discursive, and rigorously scientific - with a very modern concern for the erosion of our environment and the vanishing culture of native peoples. As Plotkin says, every time one of the old shamans dies, it's as if a library has burned to the ground. In Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, he shows his determination to preserve their knowledge not only as a contribution to Western medicine, but as an irreplaceable part of their heritage."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
| ISBN-13 | 9780670831371 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0670831379 |
| Weight | 1.35 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 6.50 x 1.25 x 1.25 In |
| List Price | $22.00 |
| Format | Hardcover |
|---|---|
| Pages | 336 pages |
| Publisher | Viking Adult |
| Published On | 1993-08-01 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Used, Good
Seller details
BookHolders
Gambrills, MD, USA
[ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Edition: third ] Cover is dirty otherwise excellent condition Publish...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
Blue Vase Books
Interlochen, MI, USA
The item shows wear from consistent use but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All ...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
newlegacybooks
Annandale, NJ, USA
Fast shipping and order satisfaction guaranteed. A portion of your purchase benefits Non-Profit Orga...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
✨ Used, Very Good
Seller details
Dream Books Co.
Denver, CO, USA
Pages are clean with no markings. May show minor signs of wear or cosmetic defects marks cuts bends ...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
HPB-Ruby
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and ...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026