Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #291750 in Books
• Published on: 1994-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Booklist
Pharmacopoeia, according to Webster, is an authoritative book containing a list and description of drugs and medicinal products together with the standards established under law for their production, dispensation, and use. Pendell's two-part title, Pharmako/Poeia, reflects what he calls the "twin poles" of his explorations in pharmacology and poetics. It's a book about the interplay of plants, insects, animals, and humans, and it suggests how toxins shaped ecological systems. It's also about the people who for thousands of years investigated the properties of plants and learned to use them for healing, for their effects on the mind, and for poisons. Pendell writes about such topics as tobacco, opium, beer, wine, alcohol, and kava, exploring their history, taxonomy, pharmacology, and effects. The book contains a prodigious amount of scholarly and technical detail, yet Pendell writes with wit and inventiveness. Engaging black-and-white illustrations and provocative quotes complement the text. George Cohen

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Wonderful overview of medicinal plants....
PHARMAKO-DYNAMIS and PHARMAKO-POEIA by Dale Pendell contain much of interest to gardeners, artists, historians, drug counselors, and drug users. Pendell suggests that how a plant substance is defined (poison, drug, medicine) depends on the dosage, length of use, and intent of the user. In other words, if plant-based drugs are "abused" the problem lies not in our plants but in our selves. He says the reader can begin anywhere in either of his two books and arrive at the same place. I read PHARMAKO-POEIA last, not because it isn't interesting, but because coffee, tea, and cocao are covered in DYNAMIS. As a tea drinker, I wanted to find out more about my herb of choice before I ventured onto others.

POEIA includes a wonderful section on Absinthe which may be related to the seduction of angels. Students of 19th Century French art history and the Belle Epoch know about Absinthe. Absinthe is that lovely green substance the Impressionist painters liked to portray, which according to some was the devil's own drink (he being a fallen angel). Wilde was fond of Absinthe, and may have been using it when he wrote "The Portrait of Dorian Grey." On the other hand, it may have been his drug of choice when he developed his witty and amusing stage plays. Readers associated with Lewis' Screwtape Letters will recognize Absinthe's plant name-Wormwood. Wormwood was probably the bitter herb offered Christ in his last hour of agony and Revelations 8:10,11 has something to say about it. Artemisia is Wormwood's proper name, and the Greek Artemisia is the Roman Diana, Goddess of the Moon. Pendell says Oberon uses 'Dian's bud' to reverse the effects of a love potion in A Midsummer Night's Dream. What was Shakespeare thinking??

Besides Artemisia and Valerian, Pendell discusses a few other suspect plants I grow in my own garden, such as Papaver, the Opium Poppy. Oh the feds tried to ban it once, but all the little old ladies came after them and Poppy reigns supreme in American cottage gardens. According to Pendell, the worldwide persecution of the Poppy plant continues even though Poppy plants (and Cannabis) have killed far fewer people than tobacco plants. This is wonderful wise book for crafty gardeners and their friends.

Excellent!!
I am an herbalist, and I found this book by Pendell and Snyder to be full of information that was presented in a fascinating way. Interestingly, finding information about herbal poisons isn't as easy as it might seem, but is still important. I can honestly say I learned a few things from this book that I did not realize, particularly from a historical standpoint! I can't wait to get my hands on the other two volumes as soon as they become available - however I have been waiting for almost a year for the promised second and third volumes of the book. I am hoping that the publisher or author can give us a firmer lead time for their final release.

All medicine is poison
All medicine is poison, and all poisons have some medicinal quality to them. "Pharmako/Poeia" is a scientific AND poetic exploration of common and uncommon plant poisons for the magician/alchemist. Pendell explains how nicotine is similar to acetylcholine (part of why it is chemically addictive--- it is spookily similar to neurotransmitters in the brain); he offers transphysical images for certain plants (Salvia divinorum, for example, vibrates to the quantum signature of Shrodinger's Wave Equation); as well as mystical and religious points (wine's Tarot card is the High Priestess, its Humour is phlegmatic). Highly recommended if you're into alchemy, poetry, and pharmacology. Avoid if you're seeking an easy high. As Pendell himself says, "If you can't kick a tobacco habit you are no doctor, and had best not proceed." Five stars, but don't look for the companion volume any time soon. The publisher, Mercury House, has been promising its availability in the "next few months" for five years now.

Covered poisons: Mad River Plant, Bulrush, Tobacco, Pituri, Alcohol, Aether, Absinthe, Cale zacatechichi, Opium, Kava Kava, Salvia divinorum, Marijuana, Nitrous Oxide. Beware: here be dragons.

Update 3/8/2003: "Pharmako/Dynamis" is now available. It covers stimulants only, so there will probably be another book in the "Pharmako/" series (but expect to wait 5-7 years until it's released).