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    Nature's Ways: Lore, Legend, Fact and Fiction
    Unavailable
    Nature's Ways: Lore, Legend, Fact and Fiction
    Unavailable
    Nature's Ways: Lore, Legend, Fact and Fiction
    Ebook446 pages8 hours

    Nature's Ways: Lore, Legend, Fact and Fiction

    By Ruth Binney

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Trying to understand the ways of the natural world has been a human preoccupation since the earliest times. The knowledge of which animals were helpful and which were dangerous, which plants had the power to heal and soothe and which to harm and kill was of obvious importance, not only to learn, but to remember and pass on.

    It is therefore hardly surprising that from all corners of the earth, a wealth of stories, signs, symbols, myths and legends about animals and plants have been passed down to us. There are sound principles in some of the traditional advice, wisdom in many of the stories and observations of nature, but there are also highly fanciful superstitions, tall stories and amusing anecdotes. Ruth Binney has collected them all into this entertaining and fascinating volume.

    Nature's Ways is a fascinating and absorbing miscellany of traditional wisdom, stories, signs and symbols of the natural world. There are intriguing tales of everything from mythical monsters and magical plants to domestic pets and humble weeds, as well as generations of advice, both sound and dubious, from age-old country remedies to predicting the weather through the observation of nature.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid & Charles
    Release dateOct 27, 2006
    ISBN9780715333938
    Unavailable
    Nature's Ways: Lore, Legend, Fact and Fiction

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    Reviews for Nature's Ways

    3.5/5

    7 ratings2 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A book about natural lore can take many shapes: A history (what ancients thought you could do with a particular herb). A natural herb guide ("willow bark contains painkillers like asperin"). An anti-science screed. A lot of superstition.This book has a little of each. The history of the use of herbs is truly fascinating, and most of it seems well-researched. The uses of herbal medicines -- it's not so clear. I'd love to see some scientific data to go with the other. And there is a little too much superstition for my taste.Your mix of interests may vary. This is a readable book. It rarely goes into much depth, but that means that it gives at least fleeting coverage to a wide range of topics. Is it the book of lore I would take if I were going to be stranded on a desert island alone? Probably not. But if I were stranded with a doctor who had a real medicine kit, and then wanted to know about some other plants and animals in the vicinity, this could be rather appealing.
    • 3/5
      MT caught a cold and shared it with me, so I'm short on attention span and long on grumpiness at the moment (and on a 3 day weekend too!, she wails), so I'm clearing out the books from my TBR that are 'easy'; bite sized chunks of fact rather than narratives that require more than 2 consecutive minutes of concentration. Nature's Way is just such a book. 1 page of small nuggets, each relating to an animal, plant, health, superstition, etc. Each one covers more myth, legend and lore than fact, but they're interesting, even if not likely to be useful even on the odd Trivial Pursuit game night. Easy to flick through, put down, and pick up, it's perfect for those times when you're brain is too busy mustering up an immune response to focus on anything ... else.