Witch Doctor's Apprentice: Hunting for Medicinal Plants in the Amazon - Hardcover

Nicole Maxwell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1567313035 ISBN 13: 9781567313031

Publisher: Fine Communications, 1999

Synopsis

When Nicole Maxwell first visited the Amazon more than forty years ago, she had no idea that she would make a life's work of the people, plants and lore to be found there. Decades before Americans became aware of the riches to be found in the knowledge of plant medicines which native shamans had passed down over thousands of years, Ms. Maxwell, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, was scouring the Amazon ram forest for clues to this ancient medical tradition.

Now, on the eve of the decade in which mankind will have its last chance to determine the fate of this region and its wealth of traditional knowledge, Citadel Press's Library of the Mystic Arts is proud to bring out a newly revised edition of this classic work. Long hailed as one of the major works of popular ethno-medicine, this book is both an engaging adventure story and an engrossing account of the traditions of plant medicine to be found among the tribes of Amazonia -- and its re-release could not be more timely.

Scientists now fear that one plant species per day is being made extinct by man's ravenous appetite for "progress". Of the plants which are found only in the Amazon rain forest, only a tiny percentage have been tested for their full medical possibilities. Witch-Doctor's Apprentice is an inspiring and amusing plea to modern civilization to save these plants -- and the people who know how to use them -- before they are destroyed forever.

On the occasion of this newly revised edition, Ms. Maxwell has created an appendix which catalogs all of the plants mentioned in the text, with their scientific names, the names by which they are known locally, and their medicinal uses. This edition also includes a newintroduction by the noted ethno-botanist Terence McKenna.

"A spirited and engrossing personal narrative, as much about people and places, discomforts and dangers, the beauty of the jungle and the arc-leap of wordless communication across cultural barriers, as it is about... bringing natu

About this title

Review

This memoir of travels in the Amazon has an agreeable twist: Nicole Maxwell was hunting for medicinal plants with the triple goal of conserving the jungle, improving the lot of humanity and having a great deal of fun. Her tales span countries and decades, as we watch her mature from an enthusiastic if somewhat naive idealist to a true trouper. Despite setbacks and disillusionment, she never lost sight of her goal, and lived to see others pick up the task of cultivating important medicinal plants and knowledge, and further her cause of preserving the jungle through wiser use.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fine Communications
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1567313035
• ISBN 13: 9781567313031
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 399