Rodale's 21st-Century Herbal: A Practical Guide for Healthy Living Using Nature's Most Powerful Plants

by Michael J. Balick, Andrew Weil (Foreword)

A captivating encyclopedia on using herbs for well-being and all aspects of daily life

It turns out that Mother Nature is a brilliant chemist. Our ancestors have used indigenous herbs in daily life for thousands of years due to these plants’ ability to heal and promote good health. Now modern science has identified the compounds that give herbs their medicinal qualities, scent, and flavor. The extraordinary diversity of herbal plants has the potential to improve our health and well-being, and we are wholeheartedly incorporating herbs, both fresh and dried, into our lifestyles—for well-being, healing, gardening, beauty, ceremony, and a richer, fuller life.

Presented in three parts, Rodale’s 21st-Century Herbal first explores the historical relationship between people and herbal plants and how it has evolved over time. In the second part, readers will delve into an A-to-Z encyclopedia of 180 of the most useful herbs from around the globe, not only familiar herbs like bilberry and nasturtium, but also cutting-edge herbs from other cultures, like red bush tea and maca, that are now available in the West. The final section highlights how herbs create a “fuller” life and features herbal cooking techniques, ways to use herbs for beauty and the bath, ideas for daily herbal use (such as green cleaning, fragrances, decor, smudging, and dyeing), gardening and growing how-tos (with illustrated garden designs), and advice for holistic herbal pet care.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Food, Nature, Cooking, Reference

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 8, 2014

Reviews

[Tait Sougstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great primer for herbs. It contains a brief and insightful history of herbal use; a lot of profiles of specific herbs; methods of preservation, preparation, and use; and some ideas for various herbal garden designs. The layout of the book is well done, managing to pack in information without being cluttered. Some other similar books I checked out probably had comparable information, but were did not have the same aesthetic quality.

I bought a copy for reference and consult it whenever I have questions.

[robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is an amazing reference.

[Sarah Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information, and easy to read. I would however have liked more information on how to use the herbs. Though I can understand the safety risk in doing so. There are a few good recipes that I tried, and they worked out well. Overall I felt that this is a great resource and particularly helpful to those who are just introducing themselves to the world of herbal remedies and uses.

[Marisa]

A quick flip through this book showed that it is thorough, technical, and well researched (not surprising since it is a Rodale book.) I'm looking forward to spending quality time with this in the future, when I am more apt to have some serious study time set aside for it.

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing information on planting and growing. The detail in this book is great, and I can see it being useful for years to come. I will definitely be buying this one!