Murder, Magic, and Medicine

While traveling in Costa Rica, I found this incredibly well written ethnobotany book at a free book exchange in Hacienda Baru.

Magic, Murder, Medicine is written by a British professor named John Mann.

John does a superb job reviewing the history of medicine and emphasizes the critical contribution of traditional medicine and plant extracts. John published the book in 1992, so it’s almost 30 years out of date. That said, many of the plant derived drugs he discusses are still prescribed today. This was the perfect book to read in the rain-forest.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

I just finished this book and it blew my mind.

Before reading this book, I had never heard of Yuval Noah Harari. He is now on my radar.

You really just need to climb into this thing… Yuval provides a beautiful synopsis of the human experience. He divides the history of humanity into 3 categories:

• Cognitive revolution
• Agricultural revolution
• Industrial revolution

He uses the latest findings from anthropology to tell this story, but the book never gets bogged down with data and scientific references. Yuval is a high level science writer: smooth, concise and clear.

Very impressive….I learned a lot.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Elizabeth Kolbert is one of my favorite, non-fiction authors. She has written for the New Yorker since 1999, in fact, I first learned about Elizabeth by reading her New Yorker article on the high tides of Miami. As sea levels rise each year, greater swaths of Miami fill with ocean water during the highest tides of the year. Ominous, but true.

Whether we like it or not, the earth is currently in a new geological epoch. We are living in the Anthropocene. Humans are the dominant factor in this new geologic time frame.

Regardless of your politics, I think it’s hard to deny the profound influence Homo sapiens exert on our atmosphere and biosphere.

As the title of this book suggests… our planet is in the process of experiencing a massive biological extinction. Elizabeth is a gifted writer and she turns this dark subject into a fascinating read. The Sixth Extinction won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction.

Plants and Society

This ethnobotany textbook must be mentioned on this page. When I was 19, I switched my college major from journalism to botany. I credit this book for that life pivot. I read it cover to cover and became fascinated with the effect of plants on the course of human history.

Now, 20-ish years later, I teach ethnobotany at a university and this is the book I use to teach the course. Plants and Society is now in their 7th edition.

The authors, Estelle Levetin and Karen McMahon, do a wonderful job with the subject. I think each section is enjoyable to read, even outside of a college class.

Delve into the spice trade in southeast Asia, Marco Polo, cocaine in Coca-Cola, tea in China and chocolate in the Aztec empire. It’s all in there.

Kumeyaay Ethnobotany: Shared Heritage of the Californias

The Kumeyaay are the original settlers of the San Diego and northern Baja region. Through trial and error, they figured out which native plants could sustain human life via nutrients and medicine. The Kumeyaay culture remains vibrant today.

I’m familiar with the author, Michael Wilken. He wrote a thesis for his MA at San Diego State University on Kumeyaay ethnobotany. This manuscript was incredibly informative for me. His Kumeyaay Ethnobotany book is a beautiful presentation of similar information.

Kumeyaay Ethnobotany explores the remarkable interdependence between native peoples and native plants of the Californias through in-depth descriptions of 47 native plants and their uses, lively narratives, and hundreds of vivid photographs. It connects the archaeological and historical record with living cultures and native plant specialists who share their ever-relevant wisdom for future generations.

Anticancer: A New Way of Life

I read this book about 10 years ago while I was in graduate school. I recently bought it for my parents as a gift. As I re-read the book, I was reminded of its influence on my life. This was the first book that got me thinking about the connection between diet, lifestyle, inflammation and disease.

Spoiler alert: After reading this book, I began eating lots of garlic, green onions and other phytonutrient rich plants.

Cooking the Native Way

I’m often asked to recommend a good Native American cookbook. I’m partial to this book, as the focus is on southern California native plants. The authors shine a light on the original superfoods – healthy foods derived from wild-foraged plants and animals.

This cookbook invites you to experience the Native American cultures of Southern California through their foods. Full-color photos and detailed recipes showcase the diversity, health, and flavor of modern cuisine made from Southern California native plants in combination with other foods. The results are mouthwatering: mesquite-rubbed quail marinated in prickly pear juice, “superfood” cookies featuring chia and pine nuts, acorn dumplings, and tepary tart topped with an elderberry reduction.

Cooking the Native Way is written by the Chia Cafe Collective. This is a wonderful group of authors, all of which are actively involved with southern California’s indigenous culture.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

Cormac McCarthy is the greatest living American writer. There I said it.

In my opinion, he is our generation’s Hemingway. His writing style is clean, sparse and eloquent.

This particular book is raw and brutal. Cormac writes about the dying of the American West. His characters fight and ride horses across the border between Texas and Mexico. Cormac deserves a mention on this page, because his writing style resonates with the wild aspect of our human character.

Next time you’re out camping in the desert, pour yourself a whiskey and read some Cormac McCarthy.

Salad Love: Crunchy, Savory, and Filling Meals You Can Make Every Day

The title to this book really says it all.

My father gave me this book. He heard I was into salads and he wanted to contribute to this pursuit.

Salad Love is loaded with beautiful inspirations for your next salad.

Gathering the Desert

Gary Paul Nabhan takes his time to bring out the full story behind a handful of important plants from the western deserts of North America.

His section on creosote was especially interesting to me.

This is another nice one to read while camping out in the desert.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Speaking of Pulitzer Prizes…Siddhartha Mukherjee was also awarded the non-fiction Pulitzer for his brilliant account of a terrifying disease.

When I was employed as a scientist at the Salk Institute, Siddhartha stopped by to discuss this book. He’s a very impressive public speaker. Somehow he finds time to write big league books, run a research lab, treat patients for leukemia, work the lecture circuit and write articles for the New Yorker.

As I began to read this book, I was expecting it to be good, however, I didn’t expect it to be one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. Siddhartha walks us through the history and science of cancer while maintaining an uplifting tone. Despite the weight of the subject, Emperor is a surprisingly easy read.

The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist.

The Gene: An Intimate History

The Gene is the second book written by Siddhartha Mukherjee. After finishing his first book, Emporer of all Maladies, I immediately ordered and devoured Siddhartha’s second book.

Even if you have just a passing interest in biology, evolution or genetics you will adore this book. Siddhartha is a master story teller. I am very familiar with Darwin and Thomas Morgan and Rosalind Franklin and James Watson and Gregor Mendel – but I still learned a great deal from The Gene.

I appreciate the emphasis Siddhartha placed on explaining the history of eugenics. Many people don’t know that the United States took the lead on eugenic policy well before Hitler and his nazis began their ethnic cleansing. And as you may expect, the recent developments with genome editing technology means that humanity once again needs to weigh in on the subject. Do we use science to eliminate life threatening genetic disorders or do we stay on the sidelines and let nature play its hand?

The Gene expertly handles this precarious subject.