An alphabetical quick reference to 200 medicinal plants, their special healing attributes, most effective applications, potential side effects, and contraindications.The popularity of commercially available herbal remedies as adjuncts to conventional medicines has made it easier than ever to turn to medicinal herbs. Stein shares her extensive knowledge and experience with healing botanicals in this quick reference. Each entry includes an accessible and detailed resume of each plant's specific healing properties.
Diane Stein (1948 - Present) is a natural healer and teacher of women's spirituality for thirty years. She is the author of thirty-three books on healing, natural remedies, metaphysics, women's spirituality, and the Goddess. Diane lives in Florida with her dogs. You may also find her at: Facebook.com/DianeSteinAuthor
This isn't a bad book, and I do intend to purchase it for quick reference of herbs, but it could do with some serious editing. Had the author not stated that she is not an expert herbalist herself in the introduction, this would have gotten a lower review. However, she was up front about things, so I can't fully fault her. Still, this book should have had a different layout (maybe bulletpoints?) so the information doesn't seem so crammed. Plus, she provided a glossary of herbalist terms at the beginning of the book, yet doesn't use the terms and instead describes them, which I found needless (this is one of the things she does mention in her introduction, but it's still in poor taste). Also ... JUST WRITE, "DISEASE." For the love of all things edited, hyphenating that word to "dis-ease" constantly to punctuate a prosaic point at best is just, well, stupid. Lastly, literally the first entry, "alfalfa," shouldn't have been included, as it's the most common plant to give food poisoning.
Handy and quick, but only has the most commonly available herbs and roots available in North America. If you are looking for many Asian or South American herbs, look elsewhere. For example, this book lists yerba mate but not lemongrass, ginsing but not lotus root. It would be nice of it had some basic tea mixes, but it doesn't.