Gathering the Desert [Hardcover]

Gary Paul Nabhan (Author), Paul Mirocha (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1985

To the untrained eye, a desert is a wasteland that defies civilization; yet the desert has been home to native cultures for centuries and offers sustenance in its surprisingly wide range of plant life. Gary Paul Nabhan has combed the desert in search of plants forgotten by all but a handful of American Indians and Mexican Americans. In Gathering the Desert readers will discover that the bounty of the desert is much more than meets the eye—whether found in the luscious fruit of the stately organpipe cactus or in the lowly tepary bean. Nabhan has chosen a dozen of the more than 425 edible wild species found in the Sonoran Desert to demonstrate just how bountiful the land can be. From the red-hot chiltepines of Mexico to the palms of Palm Springs, each plant exemplifies a symbolic or ecological relationship which people of this region have had with plants through history. Each chapter focuses on a particular plant and is accompanied by an original drawing by artist Paul Mirocha. Word and picture together create a total impression of plants and people as the book traces the turn of seasons in the desert.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Nabhan, a naturalist specializing in arid lands, seeks in this book to popularize his field. He believes a better informed general public would prevent abuse to long-standing desert ecology. With a judicious mixture of ethnobotany, folklore, history, sociology, and nutrition he creates a "persona" for 12 Sonoran Desert plants: the creosote bush, palm, mescal, sandfood, organpipe cactus, amaranth, tepary bean, chile, devil's claw, panicgrass, and wild gourds. The result is a series of essays that are very readable and enlightening while remaining more scholarly than popular. Recommended for large public libraries as well as academic and special collections. Sondra Brunhumer, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Winner of the John Burroughs Medal" "Fascinating reading for anyone interested in human ecology or ethnobotany . . . a splendid way to learn to love—and save—the deserts." —Natural History "Nabhan has chosen a dozen of the more than 425 edible wild species found in the desert to demonstrate just how bountiful the land can be. . . . A rich blend of scientific facts and observation." —Choice "The desert will never look the same once you've seen it through the eyes of Gary Paul Nabhan. . . . With the style of a storyteller and with accompanying drawings by Paul Mirocha, Nabhan shows that the desert is anything but barren." —Rodale's Organic Gardening "This gentle blend of history, scholarship and country yarns makes for a book that entertains while it teaches." —Whole Earth Review "If placed in the middle of this environment, how well would we fare? Nabhan becomes our guide. The empty baskets we bring to this book are gradually filled with seeds from each chapter. . . . A beautiful book." —Orion Nature Quarterly "A timely contribution. . . . Strongly recommend this book to all those interested in expanding their thoughts on desert culture and ecology." —Agriculture & Human Values "This a highly original book . . . reads like a novel. . . . The book is very accessible." —Cultural Dynamics "It should be noted that besides good reading, this book is as aesthetically pleasing as a basket made from Devil's Claw." —Mexico Journal

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press; First Edition edition (1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816509352
• ISBN-13: 978-0816509355
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,291,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The author is not just an Ethnobotanist, he's a Poet!, September 14, 2002

By 

John R. Foulks - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gathering the Desert (Paperback)

Quite simply, read this book. It turns the subject of "ethnoecology" (sounds dull, doesn't it?!) into a poetic duet of plants and the relationship native peoples developed with them. Nabhan, in this book, profiles several individual species (found in his beloved Sonoran desert) as intimately as a biographer would profile an admired personage. The illustrations are delicate and so accurate you could go out and identify each species at first sight. I became enchanted, and wistful, at Nabhan's accounts of ingenious interactions of Southwest Amerinds and useful plants that allowed both to survive and thrive in such a harsh region. Wistful, because many of these vital prehistoric resources, such as panic grass and sandfood, are unknown to modern peoples, and virtually extinct. And with them, human ability to survive such harsh landscapes without radically modifying them is going extinct as well.
From Nabhan's perspective (in all his books), native peoples of a region are not interlopers, but another component of a balanced local ecology; the ecological diversity & resource potentials lost when the First World imposes foreign ecologies on regions is a subtext of all Nabhan's writings.
Each chapter of "Gathering the Desert" stands by itself; but together they lead to a conclusion of incomparable adaptation to what Euro-Americans see as a cactus "wasteland". I assign readings from this book, and the entire book, to my college classes in Southwest Indians and ecological anthropology. However, it has much wider appeal, and to call it "highly readable" is an understatement. I respect Nabhan's careful academic research and his commitment to actually going into the field to experience the peoples and the natural environment directly. I admire even more his ability to make what is very commonly a dull reporting of "what people ate" into a literary symphony. All his books are excellent; this is the best of the best.

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful for Desert Living, May 21, 2011

By 

Behomes - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gathering the Desert (Paperback)

This is the book I go to first for info on how to use plants and stories about the plants - easy reading and very informative.

4.0 out of 5 stars my third copy, February 6, 2010

By 

tvc15u2 (So. Cal.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gathering the Desert (Paperback)

I was born and raised in the southern california desert, and am fascinated by how people lived here. this book has shone a fascinating lite on the desert and its inhabitants, animal, plant and human. it tells a great story. it also shows how we have lost so much to advancing our own culture. this is my third copy. I have read this book over several times, passed it on to friends, as well as purchased it for friends.