Discoveries of new drugs, organic pesticides, and other plant uses based on research in traditional cultures are increasingly common. The study of human/plant interactions which draws on the methods of antropology, botany, pharmacology and other disciplines is reported here. The text highlights the discovery of new drugs and chemical compounds and insights into conservation in order to aid understanding of the relationship between humans and plants.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Balick and Cox have combined their own ethnobotanical expertise with documented accounts to produce a beautifully illustrated introduction to this increasingly popular topic. The final book is not only readable and fascinating, but also thought-provoking and ultimately moving. -- The Geographical Journal, 3/98
This is a fascinating integration of chemistry, botany, anthropology, history and ecology...This is an inspiring book that deserves to be read by anyone interested in conservation, ethnomedicine, and indigenous peoples. -- Kliatt, January, 1998
Two leading ethnobotanists argue that human cultural origins are woven with plants: examining the prehistoric use and gathering of plants by hunter-gatherers to modern times, this examines important connections between indigenous peoples' development and concurrent plant discoveries. -- Midwest Book Review
This is a fascinating integration of chemistry, botany, anthropology, history and ecology...This is an inspiring book that deserves to be read by anyone interested in conservation, ethnomedicine, and indigenous peoples. -- Kliatt, January, 1998
Two leading ethnobotanists argue that human cultural origins are woven with plants: examining the prehistoric use and gathering of plants by hunter-gatherers to modern times, this examines important connections between indigenous peoples' development and concurrent plant discoveries. -- Midwest Book Review
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent introduction to a fascinating field,
By Zack Silber-Coats (Davis, California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Plants, People, Culture (Scientific American Library Paperback) (Paperback)
Balick and Cox's book provides an excellent introductory text for the field of ethnobotany. It covers a wide range of material, including medical ethnobotany, the origins of foods and indigenous stewardship of crop biodiversity, materials science, plant toxins and hallucinogens, and ethnobotanical approaches to conservation. Contrary to the last reader's opinion, the authors make clear their deep concern for indigenous rights. Cox, for example, personally took out a loan for the building of a school in Samoa, as described in Nafanua, another excellent book. Other issues discussed also reveal the authors' attempt to further indigenous well-being. In work with the Akimel O'Odham in southern Arizona, Gary Paul Nabhan was able to demonstrate the nutritional value of their traditional diet, which had been largely forsaken for all-American junk food, thus leading to severe obesity and heart problems in a people biologically adapted to a harsh desert diet. Thus in many cases, the results of ethnobotanical research can have practical, beneficial effects upon the lives of indigenous peoples.
14 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good Information--Bad Judgements,
By A Customer
This review is from: Plants, People, Culture (Scientific American Library Paperback) (Paperback)
Although this book is full of great photos, interesting information about the plants and the worlds where they come from, the authors are clearly more interested in exploiting the knowledge of the natives than attempting to appreciate the unique tribes, their customs AND the plants they use. This book should be called "The Plants We Can Take from Less Advanced People Than Ourselves".
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