In the not too distant future, the Dark Continent has changed. It's become Federal Africa, with all of the old countries now united into one great nation. The separate tribes are gone, technology has boomed ... it is a very modern place.But if you think that it's completely changed, meet Lieutenant Abel Enetame of the Zimbabwe State Police Force, a single father with a great deal on his plate. He doesn't only have the usual crimes to deal with, murders, assassinations, kidnappings. There are violent Black Supremacists. There are fanatics like the Tribalists, who want to take the whole place back to the old days. And there are egotistic billionaires and power-crazy politicians.And when those kinds of people start getting their hands on brand-new devices that can do startling things, like change the past, for instance ... well, that's when the sparks really start to fly. Because the future of the whole of modern Africa might well rely on one police detective."Man, this guy can write!" - Ed Gorman."A terrific storyteller" - Graham Joyce."A terrific writer. A unique and eloquent voice" - editor John Pelan.

Folded plate (1 leaf, 39 x 61 cm, folded to 19 x 16 cm) in pocket.

Defines the practise of shamanism, recounts its role in religion and culture throughout history, and its influence today.

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, by the author of The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know For thousands of years, healers have used plants to cure illness. Aspirin, the world's most widely used drug, is based on compounds originally extracted from the bark of a willow tree, and more than a quarter of medicines found on pharmacy shelves contain plant compounds. Now Western medicine, faced with health crises such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, has begun to look to the healing plants used by indigenous peoples to develop powerful new medicines. Nowhere is the search more promising than in the Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest, home to a quarter of all botanical species on this planet—as well as hundreds of Indian tribes whose medicinal plants have never been studied by Western scientists. In Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, ethnobotanist Mark J. Plotkin recounts his travels and studies with some of the most powerful Amazonian shamans, who taught him the plant lore their tribes have spent thousands of years gleaning from the rain forest. For more than a decade, Dr. Plotkin raced against time to harvest and record new plants before the rain forests' fragile ecosystems succumb to overdevelopment—and before the Indians abandon their own culture and learning for the seductive appeal of Western material culture. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice relates nine of the author's quests, taking the reader along on a wild odyssey as he participates in healing rituals; discovers the secret of curare, the lethal arrow poison that kills in minutes; tries the hallucinogenic snuff epena that enables the Indians to speak with their spirit world; and earns the respect and fellowship of the mysterious shamans as he proves that he shares both their endurance and their reverence for the rain forest.

"In this dazzling book, Chidester moves effortlessly and insightfully between the serious and solemn and the playful and humorous. The case studies are so very fresh and interesting, and he brings a wonderfully nuanced eye to the material."—Edward T. Linenthal, author of The Unfinished Bombing "Chidester's analysis of popular religion and culture is the most extensive and penetrating that exists."—Wade Clark Roof, author of Spiritual Marketplace "This book is impressively wide-ranging in the scope of its discussion, adding a global dimension for a vantage point that makes it quite unique."—Bruce Forbes, coeditor of Religion and Popular Culture in America

This Introduction surveys the beliefs, rituals and techniques found in shamanic traditions around the world.

Lifestyle theory seeks to redress the problems created by psychology's dependence on theoretical mini-models by offering an overarching conceptual framework that combines the insights of yesterday's grand theories with the methodological rigor of today's mini-models. The past, present, and future mentioned in the title of this book refers more to lifestyle theory's ability to clarify the past, present, and future of human experience than the past, present, and future of lifestyle theory.