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Where the Gods Reign Richard Evans Schultes Pages: 307 Buy
now from Mind Books
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| Table of Contents > |
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Preface - Dr. Mark Plotkin Forward The Amazonia Mountains Rivers Rapids and Waterfalls Rock Engravings Forest Plants Houses Men And Women Children Chieftains and Medicine Men Legends Drugs Coca Arrow Poisons Fishing Agriculture Food Rubber Music and Dances Artistry Travel |
| Description > |
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The book is
"a photographic essay on Colombian Amazonia. . . . Schultes
worked in northwestern Amazonia from 1941 to 1954 doing basic
research on the botany and on the use of medicinal and toxic plants
by the indigenous peoples. A . . . discussion on the geography and
the native peoples of Colombian Amazonia is followed by . . .
black-and-white full-page photographs taken by Schultes from 1941 to
1961. Each photograph is accompanied by quotes from earlier
explorers. . . . Each photograph is also captioned by Schultes and
contains information about the subject." - Sci Books Films |
| Reviews/Excerpts > |
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Reviews:
Richard Schultes is a true ethnobotanist, the incarnation and almost the inventor of this discipline. . . . He is one of Amazonia's greatest explorers,botanists and amateur ethnographers. . . . {His book} contains almost 300 black-and-white photographs of the rivers, mountains, forests, plants and peoplesof Colombian Amazonas. . . . They are pictures of great beauty and tranquillity. Opposite each full-page photograph is the author's caption, invariably full of fascinating information, and accompanied by appropriate quotation from an earlier explorer. Schultes knows the literature well, for he manages to find a passage from Wallace, Bates, Schomburgk, Koch-Grunberg or another traveller that precisely and eloquently describes the plant or Indian activity shown in his picture. . . . {The book} has one serious flaw: the absence of an index. - John Hemming - The Times Literary Supplement This book is not meant to be used as a textbook; it lacks a bibliography and an index, for example, and there are no explanations of how Schultes did his work. The book does offer valuable insights into a part of Amazonia that we are rapidly losing: the forest and the peoples of the forest who have the most knowledge of the plants and their uses. Although some of Schultes' captions are repetitious, the photographs are really the point of this book; it wouldbe best used to illustrate in a nontechnical manner the relationship of indigenous peoples of Colombian Amazonia with the forest. - Thomas A. Stone - Science Books & Films Where the Gods Reign is a vivid illustration of the evolutionary relationship between man and the biome he lives in. Dr. Schultes, the legendary ethnobotanist of the Amazon, has been a pivotal figure in the effort to inventory, tap, and conserve the genetic wealth of the tropical rainforests- in this book, he succeeds in communicating the individual fulfillment harmonious cooperation with the rainforest can give humankind. - Mark Nelson - Chairman, Institute of Ecotechnics |