Customer Reviews

Witch-Doctor's Apprentice: Hunting for Medicinal Plants in the Amazon (Library of the Mystic Arts)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was a great read for me back in '94 when it was presented as a gift and I have often recommended it. Nicole shares her life story when she is in her 80s. One needs to keep in mind the prevalence of ethnocentricity of our society back in the 50's and 60's. And to her credit she tells the WHOLE story, including all her fumbling bumblings of an imperfect human. As one who has ventured a little into the Bolivian and Belizian jungle her misadventures are only to be expected and provide great humor and reading. An example of her humor is while she is deep in the amazon jungle she relates that she wasn't all that concerned because what self respecting warrior would want a meazly female head for a trophy. Nicole was way ahead of her time in two areas: collecting ethnobotanical information and plants, and fighting multinational corporations in the pharmaceutical industry by bringing information directly to the people. I wonder if anyone has ever discovered what that one plant was that given one tbsp a woman was sterile until given a tbsp of another plant and she was fertile again! One may only be able to realize what an adventuresome and hardy soul she is, if you have taken steps into the amazon jungle yourself.

For anyone interested in medicinal plants and adventure, this book is for you. I can't say enough about it. I've read this book years ago and was so excited to find it at Amazon. I liked it so much, I bought a copy for my library.

Nicole Maxwell tells an extraordinary tale of trying to unlock the secrets of jungle medicine. This book is very informative, but it's not in the least bit dry. Maxwell goes into detail on her encounters with the indigenous people and what it was like to be a white woman in the midst of the jungle. Her strength and courage reinforce the belief that "anything is possible" once you put your mind to it. After reading this book, you will wonder how many other plants from the amazon have been synthesized for use in our modern world.

Many of the medicinal plants and remedies she comes across are discussed from a laymens point of view. If you're looking for a botany textbook, this one isn't it. If you want to read a great story about an unforgettable journey that changed not only a woman's life, but modern medicine as we know it, buy this book!

Nicole Maxwell takes us on a journey into the Amazon richwith the sense of being there. She is a down-to-earth person sincerely interested in learning the natural herbal care the Amazonian natives know well. Her book is an indictment against the current medical system in the United States as well. What we don't know IS hurting us.

Excellent book! I felt really drawn into the adventure from page one. Now I just have to go to the Amazon myself! This book is much better than many others on the subject.

An excellent book on the amazing Amazon jungle written by atrue "worldly treasure," Nicole Maxwell. END

For many years I have been exploring Amazonia with my camera, and for many of my trips I have taken this book along with me. I am one of the lucky ones who called Ms. Maxwell my friend. Although she died a few months ago, her adventures in this enchanting, emerald rainforest we call Amazonia, will live forever in these printed pages. Her work with medicinal plants was very important, and she is still fondly remembered in the Amazon by many people.

This is a book I lost years ago and have been looking for it recently. I didn't know it had been reprinted and was so pleased to find it again. The author spent many years in the Amazon jungle finding and researching medicinal plants - first for drug companies and then on her own. To read about plants and herbs that do so much for health problems is fascinating. It is too bad that the drug companies lost interest, but the plants were in direct competition with their own drugs. I wish we could use them. I am sure side effects would be much less.
Carol Bess

Nicole Maxwell was an amazing woman who devoted much of her life to collecting and studying jungle plants for medicinal purposes. I read the first edition twenty years ago before leaving for the same location she had been to in the late 1950's of the Peruvian Amazon. This third edition is also first class.
After putting up with remote jungle river travel, wading through swamps knee deep, fighting off persistent insects, confronting the hot, humid climate and accommodations of isolated tropical living, plus other dangers and hazards of the rainforest too numerous to mention, she was snubbed by major pharmaceutical companies for the plant cures she discovered from local natives.
She had found plants that cured arthritis, eye diseases, diabetes, forms of cancer and plants that enhanced healing. Along with plants used as contraceptives, she also located ones which increased fertility and some that assisted in childbirth. Plants for infections, intestinal parasites, tooth and gum disorders, etc. are a few more to mention. The list goes on.
An extraordinary woman whose sole purpose in life was to benefit the well-being of humanity but unfortunately had it fall upon deaf ears.

I read Ms. Maxwell's book cover-to-cover in one sitting. I was fascinated by her experiences in the Amazon jungle. The importance of the indiginous wisdom and knowledge she found there cannot be over-emphasized. Everyone who goes to an AMA physician or who buys drugs from a pharmacist should read this eye-opening book.

The book Witch Doctor's Apprentice is a personal narrative about Nicole Maxell's Journey into the Amazon. On her quest to find medicinal plants of the Amazon she is forced to overcome many obstacles. The book appealed to me as a nature enthusiast and an aspiring physician. I expected to learn about tropical plants and their uses in modern medicine. Instead it was a boring journey where she spent most of her time wandering around.

Maxell did do a good job using sensory detail. For instance, "She changes her distinction on every new fashion she follows. She changes the length of her hemline, the shape of her hate, the way she does her hair without altering her own strikingly individual personality." That description of a chic woman was used in a comparison with the town of Lima in Peru. The purpose of the book was informative, but it was nice when she did include the detail. Details helped move the story along and let us relate to the people/characters. She included a few travel troubles but instead of allowing the reader to find humor in them she made her dilemmas into catastrophies. In a similar book, Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams, he is looking for nearly extinct animals. That book was much more enjoyable because he was able to include humor. His book also included photographs. Often Maxwell would attempt to describe a complex plant and a photo would have been useful. She tried to include every detail of her trip, which made it boring. If she could have focused more on a few major events the book would have flowed better. Some chapters were extremely dull.

I liked how this non-fiction story included character evolution. Maxwell started out almost naïve about the Amazon and ended up far wiser. If she had done more research it would have cut out half of the story, which was made up of her messing around. Throughout the book Maxwell insults the indigenous people many times. At one point she states that, the Indian is the 'best looking male animal she has seen.' She is also surprised that the Indians are not savages. I hope her stereotypes can be attributed to the fact that she set out on her journey in 1958. She seems to think she is better than the people instead of treating them as equals. If she had valued the information they gave her, perhaps she would have had a more successful journey.

In my own writing I would like to use better imagery. She was able to describe things I've never seen before exceptionally well. I learned from her how difficult it could be to write a personal narrative. There are always ways to improve and she definitely had some improvements to make. The language she used made the time period clear and also showed how inexperienced the people were. This book was interesting but it was an un-enjoyable slow read.