MARK
MARK
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Mark J. Plotkin

Welcome to my home page! Here you will find some cool stuff like my podcast “Plants of the Gods” and my TED Talk, in addition to what is on the Amazon Conservation Team page. Visit my Wikipedia page to see more.

My Podcast

My Podcast

The Plants of the Gods Podcast

Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation” is a new and unique podcast focusing on the hallucinogenic plants and fungi whose impact on world culture and religion – and healing potential – is only now beginning to be appreciated on a global scale as never before. Unlike other podcasts relating to these issues, “Plants of the Gods” is hosted by renowned ethnobotanist Dr. Mark Plotkin, a Harvard and Yale-trained scientist who has been studying the healing plants and shamans of the Amazon rainforest for almost four decades. An award-winning scientist and best-selling author, Dr. Plotkin is a spellbinding storyteller who will be speaking from personal experience and will be joined by other leaders in the field.
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My Books

Featured here are books that I have authored, coauthored and edited as well as the means to order them

The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know

Dr Plotkin's latest book covers the whole Amazonian riverfront: the past, present, and future of a vast earth-supporting ecosystem Explores the variety of life found in the Amazon, from its tiny insects to its massive canopy system Vital to understanding human impact on the world's largest rainforest and current conservation efforts Includes information on all nine Amazonian countries, as well as the indigenous tribes

Dr. Plotkin, like many, sees enormous urgency in addressing threats to the Rainforests of South America.

Like you, ACT sees enormous urgency in addressing these factors.
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"Written in a clear and engaging style, Mark Plotkin's book on the Amazon comes at a crucial time, as more and more of Amazonia's forests are exploited and destroyed and as indigenous leaders, traditional guardians of the forest, are silenced. I could not recommend it more highly." -- Jane Goodall

The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know

Covers the whole Amazonian riverfront: the past, present, and future of a vast earth-supporting ecosystem Explores the variety of life found in the Amazon, from its tiny insects to its massive canopy system Vital to understanding human impact on the world's largest rainforest and current conservation efforts Includes information on all nine Amazonian countries, as well as the indigenous tribes

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"The thrilling account of the 13 years Plotkin, vice-president of Ethnobotany at Conservation International in Washington, spent in the northeastern Amazon's primeval rain forest is a first-rate travel and adventure tale in which scientific lore, passionate advocacy of conservation and literary gifts are combined. Thanks to the trust and friendship the author inspired among the declining number of powerful shamans ("witch doctors") and other Indians who considered him a "harmless oddball," they welcomed him at tribal rituals and assisted him in identifying plants (60,000 yet unknown species, used to treat ills from testicular cancer to earache). They even shared secrets for making curare poison and other hallucinogens (which he tried). The author has also succeeded in having the indigenous people share in the profits from their plant-derived wonder drugs, and encouraged them to preserve their heritage of botanic lore and customs. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc." —Publishers Weekly

Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice

The fascinating account of a pioneering ethnobotanist’s travels in the Amazon—at once a gripping adventure story, a passionate argument for conservationism, and an investigation into the healing power of plants

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"Cherry's watercolors are filled with flora and fauna and reveal her appreciation for this environment and its people." -School Library Journal

The Shaman’s Apprentice

For thousands of years, in the jungles of the Amazon, shamans have passed their wisdom of the medicinal values of rain forest plants from one generation to the next. The Shaman's Apprentice tells the story of a Tirio Indian boy who dreams of one day being the tribal shaman, and how he and his people learn the importance of their own knowledge about the healing properties of the rain forest.

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"An exciting narrative....admirably clear and accurate."

The Killers Within

A battle is taking place on the frontiers of medicine between rapidly evolving bacteria and the doctors struggling to outwit them. "The Killers Within" tells this horror story that just happens to be true.

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Plotkin expands here on his earlier work, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, by giving an overview of how plants and animals are being utilized to treat disease. Trained as an ethnobotonist (a scientist who studies how people use local plants), Plotkin has the ability to translate science into engrossing anecdotes that are accessible to the lay reader. And he's got good news: the natural world, he writes, has made and will continue to make enormous contributions to modern medicine. (Penicillin, he reminds us, was derived from a fungus.) He describes, for instance, the work of Dr. William Fenical, who developed a chemical from a soft coral that may prove useful in fighting cancer. Plotkin also provides an eye-opening account of the curative properties to be found in the sea, in insects, in snake venom and in plants. But he also delivers bad news: the promise of this vast natural pharmacopoeia is threatened by unchecked population growth, environmental depredation and the destruction of native cultures of tribal shamans (who, he points out, discovered the use of plants that have led to the development of "everything from codeine for pain to quinine for malaria to podo-phyllotoxin for cancer"). A very interesting investigation into nature's medicine, this book also makes a strong case for conservation. Author tour. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. -Publishers Weekly

Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets

A world famous ethnobotanist scours the planet in search of new natural cures, unveiling the healing power in snake venom, leech saliva, rainforest frogs, and other natural sources.

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Reviews of Mark´s Books

A few reviews to share and perspectives on my books


A must-read for anyone concerned about the future of the planet. A gotta-have book for nature lovers.

-- Rhett Butler, founder of Mongabay.com --

The greatest tropical forest, hemmed in by the longest mountain range, giving rise to the longest, most voluminous river, the wildest wilderness, and half the freshwater and terrestrial species found on Earth—that's what makes up the Amazon and that is what Mark Plotkin evokes in this lively and authoritative guide.

-- Adrian Forsyth, Executive Director, Andes Amazon Fund --

Mark Plotkin has spent decades studying the plants and animals of the Amazon and the cultures of the indigenous people, traditional guardians of the forests. This book is based on his extensive understanding and love of the area. The Amazon is written in a clear and engaging style and comes at a crucial time, explaining the urgent need of increased conservation efforts as more and more of Amazonia’s forests are exploited and destroyed and as Indigenous Leaders are silenced. This affects climate change and thus affects us all. I could not recommend it more highly

-- Jane Goodall --

At long last: the book on the Amazon we have all been waiting for, with the answers to questions everyone asks—or should ask. Fascinating and superbly written.

-- Thomas E. Lovejoy, George Mason University --

Lucky me, I've traveled to the Amazon with Mark Plotkin. Reading his enthralling natural history of its mystery and wonders is the next best thing—and with fewer biting insects.

-- Ken Cook, Environmental Working Group --

“When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, people habitually threw litter out their car windows, smoked cigarettes in offices and airplanes, shunned seatbelts, and assumed the Berlin Wall would never come down. With enough changed minds come changed policies and realities. With respect to the Amazon, we await that critical change. ”

-- Mark J. Plotkin --

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