- Paperback: 209 pages
- Publisher: University of Arizona Press; Reprint edition (Aug 1 1986)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0816510148
- ISBN-13: 978-0816510146
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 18.1 x 1.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#1,226,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25 in Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > By Climate > Desert
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Library Journal
Nabhan, a naturalist specializing in arid lands, seeks in this book to popularize his field. He believes a better informed general public would prevent abuse to long-standing desert ecology. With a judicious mixture of ethnobotany, folklore, history, sociology, and nutrition he creates a "persona" for 12 Sonoran Desert plants: the creosote bush, palm, mescal, sandfood, organpipe cactus, amaranth, tepary bean, chile, devil's claw, panicgrass, and wild gourds. The result is a series of essays that are very readable and enlightening while remaining more scholarly than popular. Recommended for large public libraries as well as academic and special collections. Sondra Brunhumer, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Winner of the John Burroughs Medal" "Fascinating reading for anyone interested in human ecology or ethnobotany . . . a splendid way to learn to love—and save—the deserts." —Natural History "Nabhan has chosen a dozen of the more than 425 edible wild species found in the desert to demonstrate just how bountiful the land can be. . . . A rich blend of scientific facts and observation." —Choice "The desert will never look the same once you've seen it through the eyes of Gary Paul Nabhan. . . . With the style of a storyteller and with accompanying drawings by Paul Mirocha, Nabhan shows that the desert is anything but barren." —Rodale's Organic Gardening "This gentle blend of history, scholarship and country yarns makes for a book that entertains while it teaches." —Whole Earth Review "If placed in the middle of this environment, how well would we fare? Nabhan becomes our guide. The empty baskets we bring to this book are gradually filled with seeds from each chapter. . . . A beautiful book." —Orion Nature Quarterly "A timely contribution. . . . Strongly recommend this book to all those interested in expanding their thoughts on desert culture and ecology." —Agriculture & Human Values "This a highly original book . . . reads like a novel. . . . The book is very accessible." —Cultural Dynamics "It should be noted that besides good reading, this book is as aesthetically pleasing as a basket made from Devil's Claw." —Mexico Journal
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The author is not just an Ethnobotanist, he's a Poet!,
This review is from: Gathering the Desert (Paperback)
Quite simply, read this book. It turns the subject of "ethnoecology" (sounds dull, doesn't it?!) into a poetic duet of plants and the relationship native peoples developed with them. Nabhan, in this book, profiles several individual species (found in his beloved Sonoran desert) as intimately as a biographer would profile an admired personage. The illustrations are delicate and so accurate you could go out and identify each species at first sight. I became enchanted, and wistful, at Nabhan's accounts of ingenious interactions of Southwest Amerinds and useful plants that allowed both to survive and thrive in such a harsh region. Wistful, because many of these vital prehistoric resources, such as panic grass and sandfood, are unknown to modern peoples, and virtually extinct. And with them, human ability to survive such harsh landscapes without radically modifying them is going extinct as well.From Nabhan's perspective (in all his books), native peoples of a region are not interlopers, but another component of a balanced local ecology; the ecological diversity & resource potentials lost when the First World imposes foreign ecologies on regions is a subtext of all Nabhan's writings. Each chapter of "Gathering the Desert" stands by itself; but together they lead to a conclusion of incomparable adaptation to what Euro-Americans see as a cactus "wasteland". I assign readings from this book, and the entire book, to my college classes in Southwest Indians and ecological anthropology. However, it has much wider appeal, and to call it "highly readable" is an understatement. I respect Nabhan's careful academic research and his commitment to actually going into the field to experience the peoples and the natural environment directly. I admire even more his ability to make what is very commonly a dull reporting of "what people ate" into a literary symphony. All his books are excellent; this is the best of the best.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The author is not just an Ethnobotanist, he's a Poet!,
By John R. Foulks - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Gathering the Desert (Paperback)
Quite simply, read this book. It turns the subject of "ethnoecology" (sounds dull, doesn't it?!) into a poetic duet of plants and the relationship native peoples developed with them. Nabhan, in this book, profiles several individual species (found in his beloved Sonoran desert) as intimately as a biographer would profile an admired personage. The illustrations are delicate and so accurate you could go out and identify each species at first sight. I became enchanted, and wistful, at Nabhan's accounts of ingenious interactions of Southwest Amerinds and useful plants that allowed both to survive and thrive in such a harsh region. Wistful, because many of these vital prehistoric resources, such as panic grass and sandfood, are unknown to modern peoples, and virtually extinct. And with them, human ability to survive such harsh landscapes without radically modifying them is going extinct as well.From Nabhan's perspective (in all his books), native peoples of a region are not interlopers, but another component of a balanced local ecology; the ecological diversity & resource potentials lost when the First World imposes foreign ecologies on regions is a subtext of all Nabhan's writings. Each chapter of "Gathering the Desert" stands by itself; but together they lead to a conclusion of incomparable adaptation to what Euro-Americans see as a cactus "wasteland". I assign readings from this book, and the entire book, to my college classes in Southwest Indians and ecological anthropology. However, it has much wider appeal, and to call it "highly readable" is an understatement. I respect Nabhan's careful academic research and his commitment to actually going into the field to experience the peoples and the natural environment directly. I admire even more his ability to make what is very commonly a dull reporting of "what people ate" into a literary symphony. All his books are excellent; this is the best of the best. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful for Desert Living,
By Behomes - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Gathering the Desert (Paperback)
This is the book I go to first for info on how to use plants and stories about the plants - easy reading and very informative.
4.0 out of 5 stars
my third copy,
By tvc15u2 - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Gathering the Desert (Paperback)
I was born and raised in the southern california desert, and am fascinated by how people lived here. this book has shone a fascinating lite on the desert and its inhabitants, animal, plant and human. it tells a great story. it also shows how we have lost so much to advancing our own culture. this is my third copy. I have read this book over several times, passed it on to friends, as well as purchased it for friends.
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