Customer Reviews

The Secrets of Wildflowers: A Delightful Feast of Little-Known Facts, Folklore, and History

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There has never been a handsomer, more erudite, more pleasurable wildflower book to read than this one. Sanders has done a magnificent job of pulling together information from an array of sources---up-to-date science, folklore, descriptive natural history, medicinal uses, and more. Botanical manuals and field guides are vital for identifying North American wildflowers. This book is vital to learn the stories behind the species. It's beautiful to page through and a delight to read. I recommend it most highly!

"The Secrets of Wildflowers" by Sanders is phenomenal! I am a naturalist in training and this book has helped me tremendously to find interesting facts to share. I wish there were more out there like this one, but I have just not found them. "The Secrets of Wildflowers" talks about a lot of plants native to North America, which is why it is so special. I can't thank Jack Sanders enough for making my homework a thousand times easier.

This is simply a wonderful addition to any library. I was looking for a native wildflower handbook with a little extra, but this surpassed my expectations. You don't need to be a botanist or a naturalist to enjoy this offering. It has tidbits of fascinating information about native U.S. wildflowers, from its history to medicinal uses to mythological lore. The layout is nice and there are many additional artistic touches here and there to make it a pleasure to read.

I guarantee you'll never look at a wildflower the same way after reading this little gem.

This is an essential read for those that want to further explore in an in-depth manner wildflowers of all types. The story telling format blends science and folklore and flows in a pace that is most pleasing to the reader. Highly recommended for those that have any interest in this topic.

I bought this as a gift for my mother and she loooved it. She has even asked me to find other similar books for her, but nothing else comes close. This is a great book for a wildflower lover.

The book is great. Besides interesting facts and folklore about many of our common wildflowers, it has a number of whimsical poems about the flowers as well. Makes a great gift whether for yourself or someone else.

Secrets of Wildflowers describes plants on a more poetic level than a field guide would. Each article is more about WHY I might want to look for a particular plant than how to find and identify it. The plants' survival techniques and interactions with the environment are discussed. Quotes by historical nature writers, folklore, traditional food and medicinal uses by various cultures, and poems show what the plant has meant to people now and in the past. Some entries are plants whose importance has been forgotten and are now regarded as weeds. Entertaining and informative.

I absolutely adore this book! It is fantastically well written, incorporating poetry, folklore, medicinal uses, and above all else, -accurate- historical uses. The history ranges the entire spectrum of cultures: Scythian, Roman, Japanese, Native American, Sander's does it all! What is quite unique is the blend of scientific knowledge, biographical annotations, and literary excerpts comming together to form one marvelous text that will blossom in any nature lover's library. The Secrets of Wildflowers is truly outstanding in it's field, and I simply cannot recommend it strongly enough.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I photograph wildflowers, and reading these fun, little-known tidbits has been very informative in my research of the flowers.

This book was good for those interested in different wildflowers. The text was somewhat small, but the pictures were very nice.