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MEDICINE QUEST |
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| Book: Paperback | 137 x 197mm | 240 pages | ISBN 9780140262100 | 01 Dec 2001 | Penguin | Adult |
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In Medicine Quest, Mark Plotkin moves beyond the Amazon rainforests of his classic Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice to describe the ongoing race to find new medicines for intractable diseases such as AIDS,
cancer, diabetes, and tuberculosis in far-flung places all over the world. While highlighting the unlikely marriage of natural products, indigenous wisdom, and biotechnology, Plotkin details discoveries that are producing stunning results in the laboratory: painkillers from the skin of rainforest frogs, anticoagulants from leech saliva, and antitumor agents from snake venom. An entertaining and educational weave of medicine, ecology, ethnobotany, history, exploration, and adventure, Medicine Quest will thrill scientists, naturalists, and armchair explorers, and heighten our appreciation for the inexhaustible therapeutic potential of our natural world.
"A sprightly, engrossing, and often startling account of nature's bounteous therapeutic gifts."—Nature
"As readable as any thriller. A vibrant, affirmative revelation of some of the secrets nature holds for us."—Elizabeth Marshall thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs
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