Customer Reviews

The Incense Bible: Plant Scents That Transcend World Culture, Medicine, and Spirituality

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

 

 

This book looks at the relationship between incense, culture and religion. The author is an ethnobotanist who has worked in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia. She helps in the development of plant products for the food and cosmetic industry.
There are 6 chapters in this book. The first three chapters are mainly about the history of scent, in the forms of incense as well as perfume. There is also information about the way different religions and cultures use incense. Ms. Hughes also discusses the human sense of smell, and health benefits and problems related to raw and synthetic incenses. The fourth chapter takes an in depth look at fourteen specific types of incense. And the fifth and sixth chapters are about making incense and how a person can use it in their daily life.
This was quite an interesting and informative book. There were a few things that I liked, but there were also some things that I didn't like. One of the things that I found particularly annoying, especially in the first part of the book, was that the author continually repeated that this books focus was on raw incense, and not incense that contained synthetic perfumes or oils. This statement was repeated so many times it seemed like it was at the beginning of every paragraph. Repetition was also a problem, for example, when she explained that a stick of incense is also known as a joss stick, and also what a smudge bundle is. It seemed as if the different sections of the book were written with out the intention of having them all published in the same book, due to the repetition of ideas and phrases.
I did like the information that the author provided about the sense of smell, and also the history and background about perfume and incense. I was particularly interested to learn that our sense of smell is currently the least appreciated sense we have, but it is the sense most closely linked to memory. I also found the discussion of how we describe smells interesting in that the terms we use to describe them are in reference to other senses, mainly the senses of taste or touch. Something else I found interesting was when she said that incense and perfume were rather prolific throughout most of human history, but recent cultural changes in some societies (particularly Western society) have lead to the association that if a person wears scent they are morally unclean. In Ms. Hughes' discussion of the religious uses of incense I was glad to see that she included Native American, South American, and African religions/cultures, because usually when I read a book about world religions it only discuses the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and the Eastern religions (Hinduism and Buddhism).
A good portion of Ms. Hughes' book is the chapter in which she talks about specific types of incense. Again, there were both some things I liked and didn't like about this chapter. A few of the things I did like were her information about the medical uses of the plants and the different ways in which the incense that was developed from the plant are used. However, she uses some words which I think, depending on the intended audience, needed an explanation or she could have put a glossary at the end of the book. Some of the words I thought would have been good to put in a glossary were, vermifuge, calabash, tincture and hemolytic. She also lists the chemical constituents of the plants, however, I think it would have been better if she had put those in an index, and not have it in the actual chapter. I personally didn't care too much for that, because it broke up the "reading flow" of the chapter for me due to the fact that I skipped those sections. One more problem I had with this chapter is that some of the plants/incenses did not have very much information. For example, there was not nearly as much information about camphor and eucalyptus as there was about frankincense and mugwort. I don't know if this is because camphor and eucalyptus are not as widely used as frankincense and mugwort, or maybe it is harder to find that kind of information, but I would have liked the information to be more fleshed out for all the plants.
Overall I thought this was a really interesting book. I learned lots of new and interesting things. I think two things in particular would have greatly improved this book. One thing is that it seems like it could have used better editing. The repetition in the book was the biggest problem in my opinion. I think the author or the editor should have noticed that, and fixed those issues. The other thing I think this book could have benefited from was a glossary. I found it rather tedious to have to sit next to a dictionary or my computer when I was reading the book because I had to look something up to understand what she was talking about.

An inspirational book that takes you on an insightful journey into the cultural world and history of incense-what can be described as the most spiritual way people use plants. As an Osteopathic medical student, I am intrigued by the exploration of raw, natural plant incenses as medicine. The implications for the role of incense in integrative medicine practices are absolutely fascinating. This book reminds me how nature can really be a great guide to healing. Additional helpful information on individual plants supports you in creating your own incense experience. The lists of plants and their properties are handy for checking what feels right to use for a given purpose. Whether choosing a scent to simply perfume the house or to deepen meditation, connection, and spiritual presence, this book is truly the ultimate guide. As a lover of incense, the book gave me new insights into the potential for the use of raw plants in my own practice with incense. This book is a must read for anyone who loves incense, and wants to appreciate its rich potential even more.

This book has a beautiful underlying intention, to introduce its reader to the dynamics of our underestimated sense of smell. All five senses can be used as tools to feed our soul. When we put healthy tasty food in our mouths and paint our walls colors that are pleasing, we are nourished, inspired, and perhaps more complete feeling. This book presents the 'health food' for our nose- a mysterious tool, at least in my own experience that is easy to use only accidentally. As smell has historically been explored before by many different cultures, the author proficiently unites ideas and uses of incense, ultimately suggesting modern application of sacred rituals.

The importance and use of smell, as I have gathered after reading this book, could be a missing link that encourages ceremony and sacredness in a time that lacks both. If not that, at least by becoming more aware of our senses, we can be more conscious of our environment- thus more in the present.

Incense, as Hughes states the preface of her book, is a vast topic to cover in just one book. This well researched, thoughtful book, however, upholds its aim in an efficient and useful manner. I was happy to discover such an author promoting understanding and applications of our environment and how closely connected we really are to it.

I really love how the author blended the esoteric with hard science in The Incense Bible. If you are looking for a woo-woo book, this is not it. Instead it is a carefully researched and well-documented journey of the sense of smell, the spirit of fragrance/incense and the history and science behind it. Ms. Hughes knows how to walk that fine line between science and spirituality and as I went through the book, I began to regard my sense of smell as sacred and sensuous, and yet I am also grateful to learn about how it can transport me to another place and time so readily.

In reading the book, I also felt the author's knowledge and love of the plants that give us the remarkable aromas of incense and I appreciate how she presented the big picture, walking us through various uses for individual fragrances. I have ordered this book to give to a couple of friends of mine who run a Yoga studio, so that they can decide on the perfect blend for their classes. The Incense Bible makes me realize a strong truth, which is we live in a world that offers many gifts - and the sense of smell and the many different moods of incense is certainly one of them. Thank you!

Kerry Hughes writes from the perspective of an ethnobotanist as her private interviewing reveals, but she also includes a lot of interesting information from a spiritual perspective. I appreciated that she included incense practices from numerous cultures, not just Eastern philosophies as do many other books on the subject of incense. More plants could have been discussed to qualify this as a "bible", but she highlights the major ones from key cultures. There is some repetition in the book that could have been edited out, and it may be more of a reference book than a comprehensive review of the subject matter, but I still recommend it. I very much liked the link she makes between plants, fragrance and spirituality, and she includes practical ways to incorporate incense into daily practice to bridge the separation between nature and human beings.

To me, the term 'Bible' denotes a book that can be considered 'the' authority. This book is incredibly far away from that premise! I was sorely disappointed and urge you to spend your money on incense books that are not simply a rehash of other people's books - as noted CONTINUOUSLY in each paragraph.

I am perhaps mistaken, but the author seems to know nothing about incense, often confusing natural incense with non-natural incense. She takes snippets of another author's work here, and another author's work there, and tries to make a book out of that. She would have been better off just listing the books you should purchase if you would like to know about incense, rather than writing one of her own.

My review is perhaps harsh, but my expectations were high, given the title of the book, `The Incense BIBLE'.

Again, do your own research and buy a better written book, by someone who actually knows what they are talking about.

This book is not a comprehensive or authoritative work about incense as the title would suggest and one gets the definite impression that the author only has a basic and superficial knowledge about incense.The book hardly discusses the metaphysical properties of incense and only deals with a few types of incense,leaving out many of the popular types and brands of incense.The book is also not well illustrated.