Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature's Healing Secrets [Paperback]

Mark J. Plotkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 27, 2001

In Medicine Quest, Mark Plotkin moves beyond the Amazon rainforests of his classic Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice to describe the ongoing race to find new medicines for intractable diseases such as AIDS, cancer, diabetes, and tuberculosis in far-flung places all over the world. While highlighting the unlikely marriage of natural products, indigenous wisdom, and biotechnology, Plotkin details discoveries that are producing stunning results in the laboratory: painkillers from the skin of rainforest frogs, anticoagulants from leech saliva, and antitumor agents from snake venom. An entertaining and educational weave of medicine, ecology, ethnobotany, history, exploration, and adventure, Medicine Quest will thrill scientists, naturalists, and armchair explorers, and heighten our appreciation for the inexhaustible therapeutic potential of our natural world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Plotkin expands here on his earlier work, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, by giving an overview of how plants and animals are being utilized to treat disease. Trained as an ethnobotonist (a scientist who studies how people use local plants), Plotkin has the ability to translate science into engrossing anecdotes that are accessible to the lay reader. And he's got good news: the natural world, he writes, has made and will continue to make enormous contributions to modern medicine. (Penicillin, he reminds us, was derived from a fungus.) He describes, for instance, the work of Dr. William Fenical, who developed a chemical from a soft coral that may prove useful in fighting cancer. Plotkin also provides an eye-opening account of the curative properties to be found in the sea, in insects, in snake venom and in plants. But he also delivers bad news: the promise of this vast natural pharmacopoeia is threatened by unchecked population growth, environmental depredation and the destruction of native cultures of tribal shamans (who, he points out, discovered the use of plants that have led to the development of "everything from codeine for pain to quinine for malaria to podo-phyllotoxin for cancer"). A very interesting investigation into nature's medicine, this book also makes a strong case for conservation. Author tour. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, ethnobotanist Plotkin recounted his search for new medicines in the Amazon rain forest. Here he goes beyond the Amazon to discuss some of the most important medicinal breakthroughs of the modern era that were drawn from nature. The events leading to many of the discoveries are fantastic, but even more intriguing are the biological processes and often bizarre manifestations in the animal kingdom that provide the fodder for scientific inquiry. Many of the medicines produced today originate in chemicals found in reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, fish, insects, and plants and other animals. Often, it is only through direct observation or reports from indigenous healers or shamans that these substances are revealed to the scientific community. Plotkin stresses the importance of maintaining ecosystem diversity and of protecting the indigenous communities who often provide crucial habitat knowledge. Recommended for public and possibly academic libraries.
---Andy Wickens, King Cty. Lib. Syst., Seattle, WA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1st edition (November 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140262105
• ISBN-13: 978-0140262100
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Class reviews, May 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature's Healing Secrets (Hardcover)

Students in a Psychology of Healing class have this to say about Medicine Quest:

"I really liked Medicine Quest, which wasn't surprising because I liked the first book Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice. Medicine Quest was another well-done, highly informative book about the secrets of the jungle. We could learn a lot from the people of these forests, if only we had the mind to listen to them. What I especially liked was the feeling of being a tourist on adventures following along on all of Mark Plotkin's journeys. He really brings you to the heart of these native peoples' cultures and beliefs."

"I appreciated the hope I felt as I read the entire book. Dr. Plotkin indicated there is so much unexplored wilderness yet to be examined. I liked knowing that there are people like Mark Plotkin who will not stop until answers are found. What courage he has! I liked how he enmeshed his personal life with his 'quest' to find natural healing remedies. I felt some personal emotions as he discussed hope for finding a remedy for brain tumors."

"The book, Medicine Quest by Mark Plotkin, had many features to recommend it. I particularly liked his story-telling style, the way the book exposed new possibilities, the sense of adventure that was portrayed and the way he brought hope in relation to killer diseases such as diabetes. It was a great book that I wouldn't have read if not for this class. I'm glad I did!"

"I felt that the book was simply piled with information. It seems so weird to think that we, the Western 'modern civilization,' really have not even come close to tapping into the natural medicines, resources, techniques, and solutions that are out there in the world as a whole. I thought it was cool (I know I really shouldn't have because of the pain he was in), but I was truly moved and touched how that tribe had him drink the liquid and he was in so much pain he felt he had died and the shaman was able to resolve his pain, viz., the symbolism of the whole event of being reborn and your spirit leaving and running free and returning."

"I enjoyed Medicine Quest very much. I found it was easy to read, much like an entertaining novel--yet it was full of information like a text on science, biology, and sociology. I found that Dr. Plotkin has a great respect for life. It is evident in his work with other cultures and his appreciation of living things. I especially enjoyed the historical information regarding the development of medicines. Dr. Plotkin has a wonderful talent and insight for explanation and making connections between the scientific world and mainstream society. I think Dr. Plotkin is a good voice for the conservation of the rain forest--for helping everyone realize that we are all connected throughout the world and yet we all can learn from each other. I found the information regarding animals and their uses of plants as medicine interesting and truly an indication that we have much to learn."

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Quest for Wonder, April 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature's Healing Secrets (Hardcover)

Medicine Quest is a feast for the mind which I devoured in one sitting. A compelling storyteller, Mark Plotkin interweaves his personal experiences as an ethnobotanist with the most fascinating scientific developments of our day with a clear-eyed view of history. It's something like sitting at the foot of a great teacher, who engages our jaded minds with his vivid and intricate love of creation, and who regales us with outrageous tales of a life spent roaming the jungles of the Americas. Though the material presented here is often scholarly, it is never dense. Most importantly, Plotkin reminds us to be humble in the face of Nature's magnificence. In an era of environmental devastation and mass extinction, we may destroy that which we are looking for even before we find it. Mark teaches us that only a fool throws away something he doesn't understand - and that we, in our arrogance, are behaving very much like fools. After you read this book, give it to a teenager. Who knows what rich life of wonder it might inspire in those just starting their lives?

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prescription for a Better Future through Natural Medicines., May 23, 2000

By 

Ethan Russo, MD, author of Handbook of Psycho... (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature's Healing Secrets (Hardcover)

Mark Plotkin in his new book, Medicine Quest, has provided us with convincing and compelling evidence that pharmacognosy, the study of nature-based medicines, can yield many solutions to our collective human ills. This is a book that should be required reading for all high school and college biology students. As a result, many may be inspired to pursue creative research into the biochemistry of natural products. Such study will foster a more refined view of the importance of ecological balance, and the essential nature of biodiversity. Every creature, no matter how lowly, may provide insight into our own physiology and potential cures for human pathology.