One River
by Wade Davis · first published 1996
8mentions
6recommended by
6HN commenters
2016–2025first – last mentioned
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Biography of ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes that connects plant science to the cultures around it. It suits readers curious about ethnobotany, Amazon plants, and the history of psychedelics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Enjoyable and insightful work was written as a tribute to the scientific achievements of Richard Evans Schultes, an Amazonia explorer active during 1940s-50s. Also relates explorations of the author and of Timothy Plowman, both Schultes' students. Intended for a popular audience"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.
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…supervision of a shaman or some type of religious figure to undergo a journey Likely even longer; if you're curious about some of the anthropology and botany behind mind-altering substances, Wade Davis's One River is excellent: https://www.amazon.com/One-River-Wade-Davis/dp/0684834960?ie.... It focuses on the first half of the 20th C in particular. As far as I know, it's impossible to know for sure when humans…
on “California Could Legalize Magic Mushrooms in 2018” ↗…interested in learning more about the history and economics of rubber trees and ethnobotany is advised to watch this fantastic Wade Davis YouTube video [0] and I also highly highly recommend the book One River by the same speaker [1]. [0] https://youtube.com/watch?v=_Dup6kA7yD8 [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54770.One_River
on “Walking Trees, Parasitic Flowers, and Other Remarkable Plants” ↗It's certainly not terrible advice, but for those wanting a primer on such things before committing themselves any further, I would suggest reading a book titled "One River" by Wade Davis.
on “Ask HN: Is pre-birth the same state as post-life?” ↗TL;DR The book is great - "The Amazon Conservation Team would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Wade Davis, whose book One River was essential in reconstructing details of Schultes' travels for this map."
on “The Amazonian Travels of Richard Evans Schultes” ↗…in the field of ethnobotanical psychedelic pharmacology, and he was as interested in the plants themselves (peyote, mushrooms, ayahuasca and others) as in the cultural traditions that surrounded them (One River by Wade Davis is a good partial biography).
on “Drug history is a backdoor to cultural history” ↗However, I think the Spanish can certainly be blamed Some incredibly harrowing stories in Wade Davis's One River There is also a chance some of the disease giving unto the native americans was by accident, not intentional
on “A new myth appeared during the presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson” ↗In One River by Wade Davis, Tim Plowman is talking about the tropane alkaloids present in some of the Solanaceae family and relates: "My grandmother would never eat tomatoes. She said they were the devil’s fruit,…
on “The tomato was feared in Europe for more than 200 years (2013)” ↗…(http://www.amazon.com/Reefer-Madness-Drugs-American-Market/d...). I don't have a copy of it at hand, but making weed and other drugs illegal was wrapped up in racial fear and fears of what become known as counterculture. Wade Davis's One River is about many things, including the ways hallucinogens came to the U.S., how they fit many indigenous religions, and why they're far more legitimate than the US makes them out to be. It's also an adventure…
on “How America can end its war on drugs” ↗