The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook: Your Comprehensive Reference to the Best Herbs for Healing [Paperback]

James A. Duke (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1579541844 | ISBN-13: 978-1579541842 | Publication Date: December 15, 2000 | Edition: 1

A Complete Guide to 180 Healing Herbs-- From America's Favorite Herbalist

In this handy companion to his best-selling book, The Green Pharmacy, leading herbal authority James A. Duke, Ph.D., delivers the lowdown on virtually every healing herb available in today's marketplace: its description and history, therapeutic uses, medicinal properties, prescription counterparts, dosage options, safety and effectiveness rating, and precautions.

Dr. Duke's inimitable folksy tone and friendly manner shine throughout The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook, making it as entertaining to read as it is practical. The most thorough and comprehensive herb reference of its kind, the handbook was culled from the thousands of entries in Dr. Duke's database of the world's medicinal plants. The database, which he began during his career as a top botanist with the USDA, is a lifelong project for Dr. Duke and has become a major reference resource for herbalists worldwide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lively, fun to read and filled with gems of wisdom-- a treasure of information from a man who knows as much as anyone in the world about medicinal plants."--Jean Carper, author of Miracle Cures and Food-- Your Miracle Medicine

"The Green Pharmacy is a tour de force by the world's leading authority on the herbal healing traditions...a treasure house of practical advice for the newcomer and pearls of wisdom for the herbal practitioner."--Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D., author of Total Wellness and coauthor of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine

From the Back Cover

Praise for Dr. Duke and the best-selling The Green Pharmacy:

"Lively, fun to read and filled with gems of wisdom-- a treasure of information from a man who knows as much as anyone in the world about medicinal plants."--Jean Carper, author of Miracle Cures and Food-- Your Miracle Medicine

"The Green Pharmacy is a tour de force by the world's leading authority on the herbal healing traditions...a treasure house of practical advice for the newcomer and pearls of wisdom for the herbal practitioner."--Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D., author of Total Wellness and coauthor of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine

A Complete Guide to 180 Healing Herbs-- From America's Favorite Herbalist

In this handy companion to his best-selling book, The Green Pharmacy, leading herbal authority James A. Duke, Ph.D., delivers the lowdown on virtually every healing herb available in today's marketplace: its description and history, therapeutic uses, medicinal properties, prescription counterparts, dosage options, safety and effectiveness rating, and precautions.

Dr. Duke's inimitable folksy tone and friendly manner shine throughout The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook, making it as entertaining to read as it is practical. The most thorough and comprehensive herb reference of its kind, the handbook was culled from the thousands of entries in Dr. Duke's database of the world's medicinal plants. The database, which he began during his career as a top botanist with the USDA, is a lifelong project for Dr. Duke and has become a major reference resource for herbalists worldwide.

Dubbed "America's herbal laureate," James A. Duke received a Ph.D. in botany from the University of North Carolina and did postdoctoral work at Washington University and the Missouri Botanical Gardens, both in St. Louis. Following extensive fieldwork in the rainforests of Panama, Dr. Duke joined the USDA, where he played a leading role in the study of medicinal plants. Over the course of his 27-year tenure with the USDA, he interviewed thousands of traditional folk healers and scientists while compiling a comprehensive technical database of the medicinal compounds found in common and exotic plants.

Now retired, Dr. Duke travels across the United States and around the world, spreading his message about the healing power of plants. He is an advisor to the American Botanical Council and several herb companies and author of The Green Pharmacy and Dr. Duke's Essential Herbs. He and his wife, Peggy, live in Fulton, Maryland, where he cultivates his own 6-acre Herbal Vineyard, home to hundreds of species of healing plants.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 282 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books; 1 edition (December 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579541844
• ISBN-13: 978-1579541842
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JAMES A. DUKE, PHD, held several posts in his more than three decades with the US Department of Agriculture, including chief of the Medicinal Plant Resources Laboratory. He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular books, including the bestseller The Green Pharmacy, and is on the board of advisors for Prevention. He resides in Fulton, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belongs on every herb user's shelf!, February 16, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook: Your Comprehensive Reference to the Best Herbs for Healing (Paperback)

I am quite impressed with this book. The amount of information that Duke has crammed into this slim volume is unbelievable. The herb profiles contain everything you would want to know about an herb before using it. The safety rating is such a great tool. I wonder why Duke is the first herbalist to think of it (at least I think he's the first. Never seen it in any other herbal). In this collection of herbs, there are North, South and Central American plants as well as European and Asian ones. There's a nice therapeutic index too, listing what herbs are good for which conditions. Duke has a great writing style. It reflects his incredible knowledge, sense of humor and just plain common sense. Excellent book! If I could only have 3 herb books, this would be one of them.

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed Medical Herbal, June 21, 2001

By 

Cheryl Daetwyler (Morgantown, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook: Your Comprehensive Reference to the Best Herbs for Healing (Paperback)

Dr. Duke's book, The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook, contains accurate, no-nonsense information on many of the medically useful herbal preparations. His background in botany, provides excellent advise on uses and possible dangers.

For those herbs he includes there are lists of optimum dosages and warnings of possible contra-indications or dangers involved.

Over 180 herbs are described, in a quick to use format.

Even though it covers a small number of the herbs available for use, the ones he includes are important in treating a range of conditions.

I found it quite readable even for browsing in an evening, and emminently useful when faced with a sudden onset of a medical problem of the sort most treatable with herbs.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DUKE'S BEST EFFORT BELONGS ON EVERY BOOKSHELF, August 4, 2005

By 

Heather L. Parisi "Robert and Heather Parisi" (St. Augustine, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook: Your Comprehensive Reference to the Best Herbs for Healing (Paperback)

I have read all of James Duke's books and this one is the best and most essential. Every common medicinal herb is described and rated for its value medicinally and for safety in a uniform and formulamatic way in alphabetic order. This makes this book both concise and incredibly valuable for quick reference. No matter how many times I have read this book I find myself going to it daily for quick information and in this regard it has no equal. The only shortcoming is really by design it excludes "non-herbal" though related information. For instance, you may find information on bromelain, but no reference to using it with quercetin since quercetin is a flavonoid. Duke's newer book on "anti-aging" does take this into account, but it is not neatly or usefully organized for quick reference. Lastly, many books of this type are quite expensive, "The Green Pharmacy" is the exception with new copies available for around $10. and used for around $6.