Nicole Maxwell first visited the Amazon in search of medicinal plant lore more than 40 years ago. Her engrossing adventure story is an inspiring plea for civilization to save the plants and people who know how to use them before they are destroyed forever. For this newly revised edition, Maxwell catalogues plants mentioned in the text and their medicinal uses.
The fascinating account of a pioneering ethnobotanist’s travels in the Amazon—at once a gripping adventure story, a passionate argument for conservationism, and an investigation into the healing power of plants, by the author of The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know For thousands of years, healers have used plants to cure illness. Aspirin, the world's most widely used drug, is based on compounds originally extracted from the bark of a willow tree, and more than a quarter of medicines found on pharmacy shelves contain plant compounds. Now Western medicine, faced with health crises such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, has begun to look to the healing plants used by indigenous peoples to develop powerful new medicines. Nowhere is the search more promising than in the Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest, home to a quarter of all botanical species on this planet—as well as hundreds of Indian tribes whose medicinal plants have never been studied by Western scientists. In Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, ethnobotanist Mark J. Plotkin recounts his travels and studies with some of the most powerful Amazonian shamans, who taught him the plant lore their tribes have spent thousands of years gleaning from the rain forest. For more than a decade, Dr. Plotkin raced against time to harvest and record new plants before the rain forests' fragile ecosystems succumb to overdevelopment—and before the Indians abandon their own culture and learning for the seductive appeal of Western material culture. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice relates nine of the author's quests, taking the reader along on a wild odyssey as he participates in healing rituals; discovers the secret of curare, the lethal arrow poison that kills in minutes; tries the hallucinogenic snuff epena that enables the Indians to speak with their spirit world; and earns the respect and fellowship of the mysterious shamans as he proves that he shares both their endurance and their reverence for the rain forest.
Thomas Ward has spent two years as the Spook's apprentice. He's faced unimaginable peril, and survived. But a new danger has emerged: an ancient water witch, Bloodeye, is roaming the County intent on destroying everything in her path. To strengthen his skills, Tom is sent to the far north to train with the demanding Bill Arkwright. Arkwright lives in a haunted mill on the edge of a treacherous marsh, and his training methods prove to be harsh and sometimes cruel. Will Tom's new bag of tricks be enough to overcome a critical mistake that leaves him confronting Bloodeye on his own?
Arianwyn is back for one final adventure in the third Apprentice Witchbook - Studio Ghibli meets Diana Wynne Jones! Praise for book 1: 'Reminded me of the best of the Worst Witchbooks'ABI ELPHINSTONE 'The Apprentice Witch is entirely more charming, adventurous, and full of heart than a book has any right to be.'TRENTON LEE STEWART 'A delightful, witty and vivid story'KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE The war is over and Arianwyn has discovered the secret of the quiet glyphs, but her troubles are far from over. Her day-to-day work as Lull's witch is tricky enough: winter has set in, bringing bad weather, ice imps and befuddling Yule traditions. But when Arianwyn's grandmother is abducted by the traitor on the Council, our witch faces her greatest challenge yet. What really makes a witch come true? Our lovable heroine is about to find out ... A bewitching series set in a world of domestic magic - a refreshingly small-world fantasy perfect for readers aged 9 and up. A spellbinding read, tapping into important themes of overcoming failure and building self-esteem. Filled with thrills, pesky magical conundrums, outlandish creatures and an enchanted forest, yet retains its warm soul and earthy charm!
Edward Baltram is overwhelmed with guilt. His nasty little prank has gone horribly wrong: He has fed his closest friend a sandwich laced with a hallucinogenic drug and the young man has fallen out of a window to his death. Edward searches for redemption through a reunion with his famous father, the reclusive painter Jesse Baltram. Funny and compelling, The Good Apprentice is at once a supremely sophisticated entertainment and an inquiry into the spiritual crises that afflict the modern world. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
It was the year of the Lord 1685. With only the clothes they were dressed in, their Bibles hidden in loaves of hollowed bread, they fled before the French Catholic authorities. Die or be Catholic! were shouted by the heartless dragonnades with emphasis on the die. And when the second word followed, the Protestant Huguenot victims were already struckdying, brutally slaughtered in the name of Catholic Christianity! This terror swept through Paris, continued through the rest of France, after King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes proclaimed by his grandfather, King Henry the Great of France. This bloody highway in the name of Christianity took thousands of Huguenots lives and hundreds of thousands fled their country of birth to find refuge in America, other parts of Europe, and also South Africa. In South Africa, they started anew, with their God (of Israel) and their Bibles, and the home and the freedom to serve their God they so longed for and found would become a nightmare again. With their blood, they paid for freedom, twice; and today they are still dying, slaughtered by the criminal elements that rule in South Africa, unfortunately, in the entire Africa.
A fascinating survey of the entire history of tall tales, folklore, and mythology in the United States from earliest times to the present, including stories and myths from the modern era that have become an essential part of contemporary popular culture. Folklore has been a part of American culture for as long as humans have inhabited North America, and increasingly formed an intrinsic part of American culture as diverse peoples from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania arrived. In modern times, folklore and tall tales experienced a rejuvenation with the emergence of urban legends and the growing popularity of science fiction and conspiracy theories, with mass media such as comic books, television, and films contributing to the retelling of old myths. This multi-volume encyclopedia will teach readers the central myths and legends that have formed American culture since its earliest years of settlement. Its entries provide a fascinating glimpse into the collective American imagination over the past 400 years through the stories that have shaped it. Organized alphabetically, the coverage includes Native American creation myths, "tall tales" like George Washington chopping down his father's cherry tree and the adventures of "King of the Wild Frontier" Davy Crockett, through to today's "urban myths." Each entry explains the myth or legend and its importance and provides detailed information about the people and events involved. Each entry also includes a short bibliography that will direct students or interested general readers toward other sources for further investigation. Special attention is paid to African American folklore, Asian American folklore, and the folklore of other traditions that are often overlooked or marginalized in other studies of the topic.