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Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs
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Music Books > Herb Albert > Item 19
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Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs
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by Claire Kowalchik and William H. Hylton
Sales Rank: 409810
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$19.95
At Amazon
on 12-29-2007.
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Features
Paperback: 545 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books January 15, 1998
Language: English
ISBN-10: 087596964X
ISBN-13: 978-0875969640
Product Dimensions:
9.1 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
This excellent reference is thorough, easy to use and fully illustrated with black-and-white sketches of individual plants and color photographs. More than 140 herbs are discussed in alphabetical order, including history, uses and cultivation. The uses of herbs are further explored in chapters on bathing, dyes, gardening, cooking, healing and cosmetics. Abundant recipes proffer food and drinks, perfumes, toilet waters, poultices and medicinal syrups. While the authors are enthusiastic about the healing properties of herbs, they caution readers not to treat themselves for serious ailments, and provide information on dangerous plants and abuse of common, generally safe herbs. They also report recent studies and controversies such as that surrounding comfrey, a popular healing herb that has been found to cause liver disease in rats. Instructions for planting different types of herb gardens and a brief, general history of herbsfrom their use by the ancient Chinese to the American colonistsround out the book. Kowalchik and Hylton are Rodale editors.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
An excellent reference on the legend, history, culture, and use of popular herbs. Since it has few color photographs, this is a good companion to The Random House Book of Herbs (above), which has many more pictures but far less information. (LJ 11/15/87)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
No matter how hard I search, I've yet to find the "perfect" book on herb use and herb growing. This book isn't perfect, but it does have some real strengths. Rodale's ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERBS is organized in a strange way--everything, and I mean everything--falls into alphabetical order. For example, "Gardening with Herbs falls between "Foxgloves" and "Garlic" and "Growing Herbs" falls between "Grindellia" and "Hawthorn." The book is printed on semi-gloss paper so it will stand up to use and not crumble in a few years. Each entry contains line drawing illustrations and a few sections of the book are highlighted with color photos. The plant profiles are succinct, covering topics such as 'history', 'cultivation' and 'uses.' Many entries contain material from other sources such as Maud Grieves' A MODERN HERBAL Vols. 1-2. Some information is repeated without attribution or verification. I always find "They say" and "It is thought" offputting, while I appreciate direct citations of which there are many in this book. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA covers some topics not readily found in other books. The most useful of these is a compendium discussing the "Dangers of Herbs" (located between "Dandelion" and "Deadly Nightshade." The editors have compiled the FDA listing of "tricky" herbs (could kill or cure depending on use) from PREVENTION magazine, as well as similar ratings from James Duke's CRC HANDBOOK OF MEDICINAL HERBS, Jean Rose's HERBS AND THINGS, and Varro Tyler's THE HONEST HERBAL. You realize on reading this section that everything is relative. The biggest problem with the misuse of herbal remedies is the misclassification of plants by the practicioner. To be an herbal healer one simply must understand botany. The second biggest problem is conflicting information about what a plant will or will not do based on singular accounts (which could be the result of a misclassification of plants or a misapplication of the plant extract). The third problem is idiosyncratic plant and human interaction. One man's poison can be another man's elixer. As with synthetic drugs, each individual has a unique chemical compostion and the herb in question may or may not be effective, or in some cases may provoke an allergy. Of course, there are some herbs that are downright deadly as every mystery reader knows. This wouldn't be a Rodale book with out a section on "Pests" and "Pest Control" or the synergistic and conflicting effects of various plant combinations in the garden. This information and the sections on poisonous attributes make the book worth it's cost. All I can say about plant combinations can be summed up to this...plant catnip. You'll have to read the book to find out which kind.
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Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs
Updated on 12-29-2007.
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