![]() Lynne followed ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin through the rain forest as he learned about the plants that were used as medicines by the shaman (medicine man).
Letter from Lynne Cherry: "About Mark Plotkin, my ethnobotanist co-author and friend""My children's book The Shaman's Apprentice was co-authored by Mark Plotkin who is the author of a book for adults Tales of A Shaman's Apprentice. (see this book on amazon.com at TALES OF A SHAMAN'S APPRENTICE) Both books are based on Mark's continuing research over a 20 year period with the Tirio medicine man, Natala. This story is based on fact. It is true that when miners, missionaries and other outsiders made contact with the Tirio indians, they brought disease. Malaria was especially devastating to the tribes. The modern world had developed treatments for malaria which was developed from Quinine, which early colonists learned about from the indians of Peru. It actually happened that through Mark's work with the shaman, the shaman gained back some of his earlier stature in the tribe. Especially when Mark presented the village with ten years worth of research--all gleaned from the shaman Natala's knowledge--the villagers realized that he was a reservoir of knowledge that was important to the entire world. I made the ethnobotanist in this book a woman because I wanted to have a strong female role model in this book. Indeed, there are many women scientists, including many female field biologists. The most well known are Jane Goodall, Dianne Fossey and Birute Gimlilke but there are hundreds of others doing important work in the field, often in remote rain forest locations. Their work is important for they are adding to our knowledge of the natural world....and often, this information has great practical value as we find plants that help to cure diseases and we learn about the interaction of living things. " |
The Shaman's Apprentice
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