Herbs & Things: A Compendium of Practical and Exotic Herb Lore

by Jeanne Rose, Michael S. Moore (Illustrator)

The essential herbal reference book, a complete compendium of practical and exotic herbal lore to help people live longer and more effective lives. HERBS & THINGS contains an extensive glossary of efficacious herbs (and some animal products and minerals), along with brief histories, medical properties, and recipes (Aphrodisiacal Dinner Menu, anyone?). DIY instructions for tinctures, soaps, beauty creams, sachets, and more. Practical advice for treating colds, aches and pains, and all manner of ailments, with a thorough index for easy reference.

Genres: Herbs, Nonfiction, Nature, Reference, Esoterica, Spirituality

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Molly]

This book is hilarious, I think. Either that, or disturbing.

[Pauline Veatch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book from the free bin at work, always looking to expand my herbal knowledge. but this book is not okay or useful at all. I get that it's old but i'm pretty sure it's also completely un-edited by anyone with any actual experience in herbal medicine because it's full of a lot of really dangerous and honestly just plain stupid ideas. this book insists that douching is vital to womens' health which we know now is the opposite of reality and i would be willing to accept that as "hindsight" or whatever but THE AUTHOR ACTUALLY LITERALLY RECOMMENDS DOUCHING WITH COCA COLA. that's honestly just a completely insane thing to tell other human beings to do. there's also an entire chapter on how disgusting fat people are, with such edifying comments as "STOP EATING SO MUCH!" and grotesque illustrations. and at one point i'm pretty sure she discusses making cannabis tea which makes me wonder if she even understands like, the very basics of cannabis use, because the main useful chemical components in cannabis aren't water soluble. i know i'm giving this book a lot of shit but honestly i'm just agape that anyone would write half this shit down.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was published in 1972 by someone I can only describe as a slightly psychotic hippie. The book starts out nicely enough with a long list of herbs and what they're useful for. She uses little drawings of some strange partying naked person to depict how poisonous or hallucinogenic some herbs are. It soon becomes obvious to the reader that the author has submitted twice as much information for hallucinogenic herbs as for others. The book contains several interesting recipes for cooking with herbs and for beauty products. But the first hint of the author's level of craziness comes when she starts suddenly inserting her own asides about her and her friends about halfway through the book. I was especially struck by her comments concerning a recipe for "Douche Juice á la Bob": "... This douche formula is part of Bob's fantasy of having an orgy with a nubile young girl who has red pubic hairs to her knees, her left thigh being covered with crystal mescaline and her right with cocaine, in a red room filled with five hundred pounds of fresh calves' liver." Huh?

And then there's the random chapter entitled "Fat and How Not to Be" which features drawing after drawing of pudgy women with hippo hips. The author thinks overweight people are disgusting and is convinced that "there's no such thing as a slightly fat person". Apparently, this idea comes from a self disgust based on her own gaining of 20 pounds after a car accident left her temporarily immobile. Her suggestions for losing weight include looking at yourself naked in a full-length mirror while rolling your pudge between your fingers and painting the pictures of the fat women in the book in hideous colors and hanging them all over your house.

After reading that bit, I became quite disgusted with the author and had no more use for the book than to thumb a bit through the rest. And that's when I landed upon the section entitled "My Attempt at Conjuring". She either was naked for the ceremony or wore choir robe vestments; held a magical sword; and burned a brazier full of herbs including opium, hemp, and the powdered brains of a black cat.

I would be very leery of following any of the advice in this book due to the complete bias of the author. In fact, in the section listing ailments and the herbs that affect them, the author didn't even think coffee was an effective stimulant.

[Stephanie Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom owned this book and I LOVED IT! I used to take it off the shelf and keep it in my room to study.
It's for those interested in herbal therapies and beauty secrets. It deals with everything from traditional medicinal to witchcraft.
It is probably one of my favorite books of all time. I reference it often.

[MsheArt2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read and always reading, this is never done, it's a great reference book
first printed in 1972, my copy is 1983 bought in Cambridge Ma, at the lovely Star book store / crystal shop, I miss it.

[Maeve Curran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting from a historical and cultural perspective. While I would not recommend any of the medical usages, it's extremely thought provoking and the witchcraft section in particular is fascinating. She's also hilarious--a particular favorite: "TO SEE GOD: Take peyote and let the visions wash over you in the desert".

[Coyote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave it two stars because the little "vocabulary" thing in the beginning was slightly useful but that's all. Other than that, Absolutely abysmal. I picked it up at a book sale for 50 cents and I regret spending that much on it. The author suggests and insists that women should douche, which, as everyone knows, is awful and messes with P.H balances and screws up the delicate balance of bacteria down there. Every other thing in the book is meh.

I also heard about the "magic" and "spiritual" content in this book, which is stupid copy-pasted stuff straight out of the Key of Solomon and she took, and mistranslated, a spell from the Black Pullet. Her spirit summoning guide doesn't even make any sense and as someone who has interest in historic magical practices and folklore and everything in between, she. is. an. idiot. Didn't even include the full, proper spirit summoning. Just... took out one of the incantations from the Key of Solomon and pasted it into 3 pages of her book. The other "magic" in the book takes up about 4-5 pages of the text. And is equally as worthless.


Over all, awful book. 1/10 would not recommend or buy again.

[Aspen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a product of it's era and take all advice with a grain of salt (probably don't take the medical advice at all unless you've done your research elsewhere) -- I delight in this book often, it's fun to thumb through and be taken back to another time. Parts of it are humorous and parts of it are relics that are best kept in the past (the "Fat and How Not to Be" chapter). The plant descriptions are what I usually will reference more than the recipes. This book is a gem. <3

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I still have my original copy and couldn't live without it. As an interesting read and reference, this little book was our first delving into homeopathy, back when we hippies had to forge our own realities. I have used some of her recipes through decades now, and along with my Tassajara Bread Book, holds an honored place on my shelf.

[addicted2romance · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book years ago and reference it occasionally when I’m not feeling well or just to look things up. Recently I came up on a chapter on weight loss and the language used was horrific. And I mean truly horrific. The author says “maybe more disgusting than a fat adult is a fat child.” And this is the least offensive thing that she says about people who struggle with weight.

I have never read such things written about people who struggle with weight, whether they’re fat or chubby or whatever you wanna call them. I am truly shocked by this language. She also says things like “measure the thickness of your flat by rolling it between your fingers – this should disgust you enough to want to do something about it.”

No I do this myself because I am slender in many places but my stomach just has rolls. But to have language like that used about the body? Untenable. This is extremely damaging. So while the book might be useful in many ways this language is just well the language is what disgusting, not fat people.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book is definitely outdated, it's very interesting to see how these plants were used in the 70's. For me, its more of a folk-lore read, but also has some useful information throughout and some not so useful info as well.

[Gaia Serene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just rip out the super fatphobic and verbally abusive section and maybe the part on douching and this book is actually very good. Those chapters make very good kindling for a fire.

[Cailyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guide is 1/3rd good advice, 1/3rd dangerous advice, and 1/3rd insane advice.

It’s one of my favorite books.

[Wing Grabowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

From another time... delightful relic though I wouldn't rely too much on it for actual medical advice.