Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a compendium listing 1400 plant species, so it could very well be boring. However, it is dedicated to plants that have been burned to produce smoke for various purposes, and it's the rich variety of these purposes that makes this book interesting. Obviously, burning plants to do something with the smoke is an ancient and practically universal behaviour, which in our time has been funnelled into the global habit of smoking mass-produced cigarettes, and thus disconnected from its diverse cultural roots.
The 30-page introduction categorises the uses of smoke: medicinal is the largest group by far, followed by religious/magical/ceremonial, and recreational. It also cites some of the more suprising examples, e.g. "in Bulamogi County, Uganda, men smoked various plants to rid themselves of their wives." (That's under magical, not under medicinal use!)
The species list spanning 148 pages from Abies amabilis through to Zornia glochidiata is clearly for reference and/or the specialist reader only. You may want to look up your favourite plants. About one of mine it says: "the latex of this plant was burned to produce smoke that was inhaled in parts of Iran for general gastrointestinal disorders." That's the quince tree (Cydonia oblonga). You may not want to read all 1400 entries, but the introduction is very enlightening for all of us.
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