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Earth Medicine - Earth Foods: Plant Remedies, Drugs, and Natural Foods of the North American Indians
Michael A. Weiner
An A-to-Z field reference to the plant remedies and wild foods of Native North America, arranged by ailment so you can read it the way a healer might work. Michael Weiner — a science-trained ethnobotanist and nutritionist — names the specific tribes who used each plant, how they prepared it, and how to recognize it, all set against modern pharmacology as a reminder of how many of today's drugs began as botany. It's best taken as ethnobotanical history and a browsing reference rather than a prescription pad; some traditional preparations are genuinely unsafe without expertise, and the book documents rather than endorses self-treatment. Its pleasure is the density of specific, tribe-by-tribe detail. For readers drawn to plants, healing lore, and Indigenous knowledge, it's a satisfying rabbit hole.
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The author
Michael A. Weiner (1943–2019) was an American nutritionist and ethnobotanist who wrote widely on herbal medicine, natural foods and health. Trained in the sciences, he specialized in bridging traditional plant knowledge and modern pharmacology for a general readership.
The book
Earth Medicine—Earth Foods is an A-to-Z reference to the plant remedies and wild foods of the North American Indians, arranged by ailment. Each entry names the tribes who used a given plant, describes its preparation and identifying features, and situates it against contemporary medicine — a reminder that a large share of modern drugs trace back to botanical sources.
How to read it
Read it as ethnobotanical history and a browsing reference, not a prescription pad; some traditional preparations are toxic or unsafe without expertise, and the book documents rather than endorses self-treatment. Its strength is the density of specific, tribe-by-tribe detail.
For more context
It sits well beside Daniel Moerman's scholarly Native American Ethnobotany for readers wanting a deeper database.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Michael A. Weiner
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Nature
- Location
- Colorado