"Why do buttercups glow when held beneath your chin? Which blooms are sometimes called fairy phones? Why are foxgloves sometimes ominously referred to as ‘Deadman’s Bellows’? And what is the true meaning of a rose? Humans have given meanings and stories to plants and flowers for thousands of years, whether they’re myths about Ancient Greek Gods who pecked out the eyes of anyone who dared move the sacred but thorny Peony plant, or 19th-century...

"Throughout time, trees have stood as sentinels, wise yet silent, patiently accumulating their rings while the storms of history have raged around them. Trees and humankind have always had a symbiotic relationship. Throughout the centuries trees have offered us shelter from the cold and the heat. They have provides us with a multitude of nutritious fruits, leaves, flowers and roots for food and medicine. They have given us wood with which to make...

From the Publisher: From the bestselling author of A History of the World in Six Glasses, this is a riveting history of humanity told through the foods we eat. Throughout history, food has done more than simply provide sustenance; it has acted as a tool of social transformation, political organization, geopolitical competition, industrial development, military conflict and economic expansion. And today, in the culmination of a process that has been...

"Reveals myth and "otherness" as keys to restoring self, nature, and society. Shows how myths contain medicine to restore wholeness amidst trauma, exile, sudden life change, disability, illness, death, or grief. Synthesizes lessons from shamanic practice, quantum physics, alchemy, soul poetry, wildness, social justice, and the author's lived experience. Discloses the blessings of outsiderhood and the gifts and insights gained and contributed to culture...

An Air Force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hard-partying undergraduate in the late 1980s electrocutes herself, dies, and is sent back into life by creatures of air and light. A hearing- and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another. These four,...

"The symbolism of plants -- whether in the ancient Greek doctrine of signatures or the Victorian secret language of flowers -- has fascinated us for centuries. Contemporary herbalist Maia Toll adds her distinctive spin to this tradition with profiles of the mysterious personalities of 36 herbs, fruits, and flowers. Combining a passion for plants with imagery reminiscent of tarot, enticing text offers reflections and rituals to tap into each plant's...

The first history of women's tattoo art, Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo is a fascinating excursion into a subculture that dated back to the 19th century. It includes many never-before-seen photos of tattooed women from the last hundred years.

An evocative and richly illustrated exploration of flowers and how, over the centuries, they have given us so much sustenance, meaning, and pleasure. The bright yellow of a marigold and the cheerful red of a geranium, the evocative fragrance of a lotus or a saffron-infused paella--there is no end of reasons to love flowers. Ranging through the centuries and across the globe, Kasia Boddy looks at the wealth of floral associations that has been passed...

"In The Illustrated Bestiary, author and spiritual wellness guide Maia Toll turns the insight and wisdom that birthed The Illustrated Herbiary -- her best-selling volume on the mystical power of plants -- to the animal kingdom. Through profiles highlighting 36 animals' most meaningful traits, Toll explores how those qualities can illuminate our habits, guide our intentions, and inform our actions. Rituals and reflections guide readers in cultivating...