Customer Reviews

Henna's Secret History: The History Mystery and Folklore of Henna

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By far this is my most prized possession in the field of Henna History and Research, and I've only just gotten it! Written by an herbalist as well as a free thinker rather than head nodder, her book turned everything I thought I knew about the plant commonly called 'Henna' upside-down. Taking nothing for 'granted' she takes an entirely refreshing approach to researching the use of this herb, not just as a skin dye, but the entire plant as well as the linguistic archeology that so very precisely traces the plant's roots. With a never ending search for the 'why' she has summarily presented the evidence rather than drawing the conclusions for you! Definitely not for the Hard of Thinking, this book is by far the best piece of research on the subject I have seen to date!!!! A real TREASURE!!!!!

I was very impressed with this work in that the references were well researched and verified. As a college professor, these are the sorts of course texts that we employ in our studies of pharmacognosy or the study of medicines made from plants & natural sources.

"Henna's Secret History" is just the type of manual I would choose to explain the chemical compounds and medicinal properties of Henna to both the neophyte as well as the advanced student. Excellent work, well founded in clinical study and complete in every way. I highly recommend it.

This is an interesting work with a lot of information, but seems to have had no editing, and for me this takes away from fully engaging and absorbing the content. For example-

"Hailing from Briton..." p. 7
"King Herod's sons wife.." p.48
"Karma Sutra" p.52 (not spelled correctly once throughout the book)
"Buddhisem" p.54

and on and on. A few typos here and there is one thing, but when they add up that much it gets annoying and interrupts the flow of the book (as it is there are many pages with no paragraph breaks). However, I shall continue...and most likely other people aren't as affected by this type of thing. I have to say, though, the last few books I read published in England were blissfully free of typos.