The gnarled, immutable yew tree is one of the most evocative sights in the British and Irish language, an evergreen impression of immortality, the tree that provides a living botanical link between our own landscapes and those of the distant past. This book tells the extraordinary story of the yew’s role in the landscape through the millennia, and makes a convincing case for the origins of many of the oldest trees, as markers of the holy places founded by Celtic saints in the early medieva...

The botanical history of Britain and North West Europe has a dark and a light side. Plants have been used as weapons to harm people, taken deliberately as addictive drugs and also employed as tools in witchcraft and used as magical amulets. Yet many of these same plants have been medicinally vital to numerous European communities; as the author notes, frequently the only difference between a benevolent medicine and a poison is dosage. In this book, which is richly illustrated with modern c...

The author of The Drunken Botanist "offers practical and tantalizing composite views of toxic, irritating, prickly, and all-around ill-mannered plants" ( Booklist ).American Horticultural Society Book Award WinnerChosen One of the Best Gardening Books of the Year by the Washington Post and National Pub...

Poisons permeate our world. They are in the environment, the workplace, the home. They are in food, our favorite whiskey, medicine, and well water. They have been used to cure diseases as well as incapacitate and kill. They smooth wrinkles, block pain, stimulate and enhance athletic ability. In this entertaining and fact-filled book, science writer Peter Macinnis considers poisons in all their aspects. He recounts stories of the celebrated poisoners in history and literature, from Nero to ...

A lost classic of Western herbalism-rediscovered and restored with 200 full-color images.Herbalist to King Charles I, John Parkinson (15671650) was a master apothecary, herbalist, and gardener. Famous in his own lifetime for his influential books, his magnum opus, the Theatrum Botanicum, was published in 1640 and ran to 1,766 large pages. The sheer scope and size was perhaps to prove the book’s downfall, because while it was much revered-and plagiarized-i...

Learn how to cultivate your own magical garden, begin your journey with folk herbalism, and awaken to your place in nature through practical skills from an experienced Appalachian forager and witch.Witchcraft is wild at heart, calling us into a relationship with the untamed world around us. Through the power of developing a relationship with plants, a witch—beginner or experienced—can practice their art more deeply and authentically by interacting ...

Backyard Medicine is a beautiful book, packed with nearly 300 color photographs and over 120 herbal remedies that you can make yourself. It gives a fascinating insight into the literary, historic, and world-wide application of the fifty common plants that it covers. It is the sort of book you can enjoy as an armchair reader or use to harvest and make your own herbal remedies from wild plants. Anyone who wants to improve his or her health in the same way that human-kind has done fo...

From the author of the New York Times bestseller* Why You Shouldn?t Eat Your Boogers and Other Useless (or Gross) Information About Your Body: the be-all and end-all compendium of odd, quirky, and otherwise nauseating information.H ere is another thoroughly distasteful yet utterly compelling book from the author of the New York Times (extended list) bestseller Why You Shouldn?t Eat Your Boogers and Other Useless (or Gross) Information...

With quick and easy instructions, Guinea Pig Care will help you set up a home for your guinea pig and provide you with all the necessary information you need to know to keep your new family member happy and healthy.

There is a wealth of plants growing abundantly all over roadsides, cities, and in your own backyard; this coincides perfectly with alternative medicine and natural healing reaching into every facet of our lives. These plants have numerous medicinal uses that people have largely forgotten. Once valued and widely used, they’ve fallen out of fashion over time as they were bypassed by commercial medicine. A companion to the team’s previous book, Backyard Medicine for All will focus la...

An A-to-Z journey through a wide variety of herbs and their fascinating history of medicinal and culinary uses—includes illustrations!Discover some unique additions to your garden in this reference filled with fascinating facts, unexpected lore, elegant prose, and beautiful watercolor illustrations by Ellen Buchert.From popular herbs like basil, lavender, and peppermint to lesser-known choices like meadowsweet and soapwort, this is a treasury that reveals h...

This first aid guide is provided as a set of general instructions in using the materials included in the average first aid kit. It should be noted that this guide is also for the treatment of minor injuries, and that these general instructions are consistent with current standard first aid practices.