Medicinal Plants of the Desert & Canyon West

I live in the desert; when I look out the window now, I no longer see pesky sage brush and annoying goat heads and pushy, intrusive shrubs and cactus. I see the living, breathing, quietly waiting elements of medicine for human health. I see the possibility of caring for ourselves in a world that has become toxic to ordinary people in ways our ancestors couldn't imagine. I'm very, very grateful to Mr. Moore for the legacy he left; we are stronger for his having lived.Hyperbole aside, the book is an invaluable reference. Not only does it describe the desert medicinal plants in excellent detail and provide information on preparation and usage, it also contains valuable insights into the preparation of medicinals in general and cleared up a few questions I didn't realize I had about the making of tinctures. My methods are better thanks to this book. That means my medicines will be more effective; no small thing.A lot of my reading material these days is in electronic form. Generally, just the books I think of as "happy trash"; those novels and stories that amuse me but that could evaporate tomorrow and leave no one much the poorer for it. But, I am keenly aware of which books should never be kept only in electronic form. We need printed books very, very much because they contain the potential to outlast electricity. This isn't a small consideration anymore. This book of Mr. Moore's should definitely be in your analog collection. It needs to last. Buy two copies to be sure.

I veer more towards western science than homeopathic cures, however I've tried several of the herbs/plants mentioned in this book and they are surprisingly effective. The book itself is concise, has a decent index, with color photos in the center to help make a correct identification of the plant(s). Michael Moore seems very well researched. If you are looking for regional alternative medicine, this book is a good place to start. There are also many references provided for further reading.

This book is great. Living in the southwest desert of the USA. It has a map of native growing plants and their uses. The only down side is the images of the plants are kind of poor.

Awesome book, lists specifics on constituents of each herb, preparation, and how and where to harvest each plant. I live in NW Florida, and still found this book more useful than ones written about the east coast plants.

I am trruly amazed at the amount of research that was put into this book. it's awesome! It tells me everything I need to know and a lot of triviia that's good to know. the formulas in the back I find to be an especially nice touch