Earthly Goods: Medicine-Hunting in the Rainforest

by Christopher Joyce

Journeys into the complex ecosystems of Earth's tropical rainforests, the planet's most diverse concentration of plant and animal species, to describe the race to identify and analyze medically useful tropical plants before it is too late.

Genres: Science

Hardcover

First published July 1, 1994

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Amazon review: Most of the problem with this book is not the fault of the author but of the passage of time. While Earthly Goods was most likely right on target for 1994, when it was published, ten years later it is outdated but does not, unfortunately, read like a history. (Shaman Pharmaceuticals, for example, seems like a promising enterprise in this book. I thought I might check out their stock. They are bankrupt and have regrouped as Shaman Botanicals with only one product in their line, as far as I can tell. Stock is OTCBB at $0.002 as of today.)

Joyce's writing is dry and often times fairly technical leaving a layman reader like myself in the dark and, more importantly, skipping to the next paragraph. Readers with a specific interest in botany and pharmaceutical derivatives in plants may still find some of the information of value but it does not qualify as a good introduction for those without prior knowledge of the field.

Although I had high-hopes for this book, a revised edition where these stories are anthologized and recent findings and updates are discussed would have been much more useful.

[Jagati Bagchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

the reason this book is an important read, is simply because it is an account of our footprint, biological, cultural and most important our natural heritage. every society has their own plants to take care of them. we in our time have forgotten to respect and protect them. it is high time that we start taking care of these little helpless things, so that we can be ensured of protection when we need them in future.

[Chandra]

Didn't read past the first chapter. Remarkably like One River, but not as good.