Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading with no gardening infomation......, April 30, 2005
This review is from: The Herbal Arts: A Handbook of Gardening, Recipes, Healing, Crafts, and Spirituality (Paperback)
One of the more frustrating aspects of Patricia Telesco's, THE HERBAL ARTS, is her failure to organize the herbs by their Latin names (she provides a Latin name with each entry, but many of these entries have been reclassified since the book was published or are not very well explained). This shortcoming makes shopping for a specific herb difficult, as the more reputable plant suppliers rely on Latin names to organize their inventories. Although some plant catalogs group plants by colloquial names, if you are seeking a specific plant for a particular ailment, the search may prove confusing without the exact identifier, and the plant you finally select may be ineffective at best and dangerous at worst. (For example, the Bergamot that gives Earl Grey Tea its distinctive scent is probably the essential oil (Citrus bergamia) which comes from Asia, not the flower in my perennial bed (Beebalm or Monarda didyma sometimes known as Oswego Tea) native to the Eastern US, or Monarda citriodora the Lemon Bergamot native to the US West. Telesco does not discuss Bergamot, which might be just as well, but she also fails to mention Oregano (Origanum -- sometimes known as wintersweet or Majoram. She mentions the latter, but not all Oreganos are Oreganum majorana so she needs a crossreference as a minimum).
As I mentioned, the author almost always provides one Latin name per entry, however, often several different species names are often involved. For example, "marigolds" are listed as Marigolds or Calendula in her book, not Tagetes, which is how many botanists classify them. If you want to add Marigold to soup or use it to rinse your hair, you probably want Calendula Officinalis. But if you want to deter nematodes in the garden, you want Tagetes. Similarly, Chamomile may be Chamomile or Matricaria - one an annual and the other a perennial (the annual is thought to taste better). Tarragon may be Artemisia or Tagetes, which takes us back to Marigolds.
Other than horticultural confusion and lacunae, this book includes some interesting "spiritual" claims, but I have not read the ancients, so I do not know which herbs were preferred by which Gods and Goddesses or Spirits, with the exception of Asclepias who left little doubt, and Venus with her Dittany (Oreganum dictamnus) who is pictured at Pompeii bringing the wonder drug to the wounded Aeneas (I know this from other sources).
Apparently Ms Telesco located various reputable and questionable sources that link various flora with ancient deities, so her claims are not unfounded. She provides a comprehensive bibliography, though I would have preferred to have seen footnotes linking her sources with her text. The book includes no photos or drawings to help the confused. You would do better to lay out the $$ and purchase the Van Wyck and Wink book on MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE WORLD.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A nice quick reference, April 21, 2000
This review is from: The Herbal Arts: A Handbook of Gardening, Recipes, Healing, Crafts, and Spirituality (Paperback)
This is a good, concise herbal book containing history, folklore, recipes & cooking tips, and more. There is also a decent appendix at the back, listing herbs and their corresponding planets, spirits/deities, magical correspondence (or use), and element. You might be able to find some of the information in this book in others, but it can fill out your library nicely, and contains information not regularly found.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A slightly different herbal, July 23, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Herbal Arts: A Handbook of Gardening, Recipes, Healing, Crafts, and Spirituality (Paperback)
When I first saw this book, I was a little leery of buying it. What do I need with another herb book? They all have the same info, just rehashed. Well, this one was different. Her section (like an encyclopedia) of herbs is not as extensive as other books and deals mostly with the common herbs. However she has many recipes and ideas for the herbs. Not just teas and potpourri, but lotions, soaps, soda pop, toothpaste, etc. My only complaint is the inclusion of the word "spirituality" in the title of the book. There is very little. But one can find numerous books on herbal magick elsewhere.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
