Tales from the Medicine Trail: Tracking Down the Health Secrets of Shamans, Herbalists, Mystics, Yogis, and Other Healers

More than 5.1 billion people--85 percent of the world's population--depend on herbs as their primary medicines. "Herbs can be used to cleanse the bowels, open congested sinuses, help mend broken bones, stimulate the brain, increase libido, ease pain, aid digestion, and for a thousand other purposes," writes Chris Kilham. Kilham is a medicine hunter: he "walks the medicine trail" around the world researching traditional medicines, specifically beneficial plants.

Many other books give the benefits and uses of herbs, but this one is unique because it's a combination travel-herb book: the author takes the reader with him as he travels. We experience the storms, flesh-feeding insects (including wasps, swarms of gnats, flies, and ants) of his storm-tossed journey to the Amazon River and rain forest ("a medicine-hunter's mecca") seeking sex-enhancing remedies that could be marketed in the United States, particularly catuaba and muirapuama. We travel to Bangalore, India, learning about Ayurvedic remedies and methods; Churin, Peru, pursuing maca (a plant reputed to increase strength, energy, stamina, libido, and sexual function); and a remote area of Hawaii for kava ("nature's Valium without the side effects"). We also get to know the people, foods, healing arts, and legends of each region. This is a terrific book for someone who is interested in the healing powers of herbs and who yearns to travel to remote regions (even if vicariously from an armchair). --Joan Price