LATEST SALES & OFFERS: PROMOTIONS
Tim Elliott is one of the best travel writers in Australia today. He is also an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in publications all over the world, including London's The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review. His first book, THE BOLIVIAN TIMES, published by Random House in 2001, is an account of six months he spent working on an English-language paper in South America. Tim has won several awards, including the Australian Society of Magazine Editors Best Feature award in 1998. In 2002 he won the Australian Society of Travel Writers Journalist of the Year award, and was runner up in 2003. His book THE BOLIVIAN TIMES saw him invited to speak at the Sydney Writers Festival in 2001 and the Brisbane Writers Festival in 2003.
This is a dictionary of some of the most common herbs on the market today, from Aloe to Yarrow. Armstrong, a journalist and author with no ties to the industry, argues: 'most books about herbs fall into one of two categories; the boosterism of the true believer and the cynicisim of the self-dramatizing quackbuster. Neither approach is useful.' Here he aspires to educate: to debunk myths and inform the reader what proof exists to substantiate health claims. For each herb included he provides a list of potential health benefits, scientific evidence that supports the existence of these benefits (or brings them into doubt), information on how to use the herb in question, consumer products available and potential dangers. Much of the information has its basis in scientific evaluations completed by a panel of experts, Commission E, appointed by the German authorities to find out more about plant-derived medicines. The panel's 24 members, comprising doctors, pharmacists, toxicologists, pharmacologists and laypersons, assessed over 400 herbs, of which Armstrong includes 75 'of the most popular and potentially useful herbs approved by the commission'. These include herbs which he calls the 'Power 8' and a further 12 that he entitles 'the dubious dozen'. This handy guide makes it easy to discover if folk myths have a basis in fact: can echinacea ward off infection, and is ginseng really a powerful pick-me-up? For anyone interested in finding out more about herbal remedies this is an essential reference. (Kirkus UK)
