Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: caiman noir, red breechcloth, cassava beer, French Guiana, South America, United States (more...)

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A century ago, malaria was killing Washingtonians, Londoners, Parisians. Today HIV, along with various cancers, has taken its place among worldwide epidemics. Quinine, extracted from the cinchona tree of the Amazonian rainforest, quelled malaria; alkaloids taken from trees in the West African rainforest may well yield a cure for AIDS. Yet those woods, Mark Plotkin tells us, are fast disappearing, along with the native peoples who know the powers of the plants that dwell there. His account of wandering through the Amazonian jungles focuses on local knowledge about plants, whose uses range from the mundane to the magical. The rainforests of the world, Plotkin notes, are our greatest natural resource, an intercultural pharmacy that can cure woes both known and yet unvisited.

From Publishers Weekly

Ethnobotanist Plotkin details the alternative medicines he discovered during an apprenticeship to the shamans of the Amazon rainforests.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014012991X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140129915
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #266,494 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funeral Dirge, June 2, 2005

By	JOHN J. MCGRAW "author of Brain & Belief" (Solana Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're a student of ethnobotany, you've come across the works and influence of Richard Evans Schultes who not only got the discipline on the charts but also spawned all of its major researchers. Plotkin, like many of the other ethnobotanists out there, never imagined going into this area but after attending a lecture by Schultes was forever hooked. And who wouldn't be? There are few tracks of study that harken back to the great era of discovery when large swaths of maps were inscribed "TERRA INCOGNITA" and strange tales of lost tribes, hidden ruins, and secret rituals abounded. In short, ethnobotany is a calling card for the last terrestrial adventure. Reading any of its texts one gets to take part in this adventure vicariously.

Like "One River" (Wade Davis), Plotkin's "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice" takes us to the most remote areas of the Amazon and allows us to sample the last vestiges of traditional cultures where, in the words of Plotkin, the arrival of Columbus in 1492 is just being felt. It's taken 500 years for European civilization to finally penetrate the canopy of the deep rainforest but the Conquest is now nearly complete and the very last of the holdouts are starting to wear ratty jeans and tossed off t-shirts, sing cheesy Bible hymns, and guzzle down Coca-Cola. For all the adventure and good writing, a long sad tune is heard as one reads this book; a threnody to bemoan the last gasp of wise-old cultures as their vision goes dark. And with each of these cultures is lost all the knowledge of plants that they have come to know so well. But, in truth, the loss of this knowledge is not so important since the plants themselves are disappearing into oblivion even faster. As was recently reported, the Amazonian rainforest lost 10000 square miles in 2004 alone. It seems that all one can do is stand tall at the funeral to pay respect.

Lest one lash out too quickly at the misguided missionaries or encroaching campesinos, Plotkin does a majestic job of introducing us to these characters and showing how each is doing what is right in its own way. It's just that the rainforest was never meant to take on modernity and humanity's billions. As the two clash, modernity-as has been its record-wins, even at the loss of irreplaceable natural resources.

The book is hard to put down and if one needs more of the same, "One River" should be the next read. With enough interest in the Amazon and its issues perhaps, just perhaps, a critical mass of people can come together to better protect this ecological and anthropological treasure trove.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Phenomenal Book, April 25, 1998

By	Samuel R. Pryor "Sampry" (Los Angeles, California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I agree wholeheartedly with the rave reviews for this book and it has become one of my favorites (I even sent it to an ethnobotanist in Yap as a must read). Not only is it wonderfully well-written, and not only does it address crucial ecological concerns, but it is an exciting account of Plotkin's effort to identify and explore the medical possibilities of Amazonian plants, while preserving the indigineous lore about their uses, both medicinal and spiritual; the discovery and adoption of plants by Europeans and North Americans, and Plotkin's own adventures. I found some it so fascinating on so many levels I'd read it to my family (okay, I know that may be obnoxious, but I couldn't restrain myself). It's thought-provoking, important and absolutely fascinating. Can't recommend it highly enough!!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good science, good work, March 5, 2000

By	"dusty_pages" (Topsfield, Maine USA) - See all my reviews

Mark Plotkin takes the reader on a journey to the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and Suriname, along the way teaching about rainforest ecology, the medicinal plants and rituals of shamans, indigenous cultures, and his own scientific methods. Although his prose is at times tedious and repetitive, the story itself is a fascinating one, and his determination to give something back to the people of the region is admirable. The story unfolds in a way that allows the reader to understand what is happening to the rainforest both culturally and ecologically, and it offers not merely a criticism of western society but a set of reasonable solutions that could benefit the region, not just ecologically but economically. Plotkin is a responsible researcher whose work should be a model for future ethnobotanists.