The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is a book written and edited by Nicole Apelian, Ph.D., and written and edited by Claude Davis. The subtitle of the book is The Healing Power of Plant Medicine, and that probably paints a clearer picture of what this book is actually about than the main title.
We had recently read and reviewed The Lost Ways, which is a multi-author book edited by Claude Davis that views survival through the lenses of American pioneers and Native Americans. Some of our favorite sections in that book dealt with cooking using plants that grow naturally in North America and also using the plants to create poultices, various remedies and even medicines.
Looking for other books that Davis was connected to, we came across The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: The Healing Power of Plant Medicine and immediately knew that this was an obvious review choice. Join us as we discuss the contents, what we liked and, of course, what we did not like.
What is The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies?
Almost 40 percent of Americans use some form of traditional medicine in their lives, and that number is expected to continue trending upward. Alternative medicine is big business in the United States and throughout the world, and many people spend a considerable amount of money on it each month. What many people do not realize is that there is medicine right outside their backdoors available for free.
Much of the information found in the lost book of herbal remedies was at one time considered common knowledge in America. No one would trek across the country to found a new homestead without knowledge of how to live off the land, and living off the land goes far beyond just nutrition and includes cleanliness and healing.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is a massive book. It is more than 300 pages long and features more than 800 unique plants along with information about how to identify and use those plants and, in many cases, how to grow them. This tome is particularly effective as a reference book, and that has a lot to do with how the table of contents and appendix are organized. All plants are itemized, and you can also discover them based on where they grow naturally and the treatments with which they are associated.
About the Authors
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is written by Claude Davis and Dr. Nicole Apelian.
About Dr. Nicole Apelian
Nicole Apelian is an interesting person who may be best known for appearing on the Alone television series, which aired on the History Channel. She even has her bio listed on history.com. She was born in Massachusetts. She earned a master’s degree in biology and would then join the U.S. Peace Corps through which she would research lions in South Africa. While there, she fell in love with the local tribes and learned much about their traditional medicine and their various related practices.
She eventually returned home to complete her doctorate. Her experiences in South Africa, however, motivated her to get degrees in anthropology, ecology and some other fields. She also became an herbalist and apothecary. One of her focal points was to view natural medicine as the African tribes she had encountered did but through the perspective of what was naturally available here in America. That became her true passion and would eventually provide the motivation to write the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies.
About Claude Davis
Claude Davis is an interesting contrast to Apelian. He is an everyman and does not have the education or worldly experiences that Apelian does. Much of his career has been spent as a history expert who specializes in the American Wild West. He is also a survivalist, and as he got older, learning survival skills evolved from a hobby into a way of life. Davis combined his love of the Wild West and his love of survival by studying survival skills as they were plied by the Native American and the American pioneer.
That passion would become the motivation to write Davis’ hugely popular The Lost Ways. An important aspect of that book is living off the land and in particular using readily available plants as poultices and medicines. Those sections of the book were edited by Davis rather than written by him, and it was during this process that Davis met Apelian and realized that there was a great deal of intersect in their interests. A friendship formed, and Davis would later convince her to write this book with him.
Click here to learn more about Dr. Nicole Apelian and Claude Davis on the official site.
How the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is Organized?
It is important to note that this publication is organized like a reference book. It reminded me of a time a few years back when a publisher asked if I would review a book on aquarium fish from South America. The Lost book was dense with pictures and information, and if you needed details on a specific species, you had access to it in seconds. But it was not the kind of book you would kick back with on the couch on a lazy Sunday. This was much the feeling that I got with this book. I do not mean that as a criticism, however, and include here only so that you fully understand what it is if you choose to purchase it.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies begins with a table of contents. You can use the table to search for plants based on their scientific names and their common names. The table also provides groupings so that you can find plants based on various categories, such as Backyard Plants or Trees and Shrubs. After an about the authors section, you will find a Medicinal Herbal Reference Guide, and this is essentially an appendix that organizes plants based on medical issues. One section, for example, is Digestive and Intestinal Issues, and its subcategories include Abdominal Pain, Bloating, Constipation and so forth.
The book concludes with an actual appendix, and it essentially combines everything from the table of contents and the reference guide. You can search by species name, common name, medical issues, natural environments and so on and so forth. It is also worth noting that the PDF is professional in all aspects. I have reviewed some PDFs that were nothing more than a Word document run through a free converter. This document supports all of the advanced PDF features, and if you use a nice PDF reader, this is invaluable when it comes to bookmarking, highlighting, annotations and so forth.
How Readers Can Benefit From The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies?
This herbal remedies book is clearly aimed at people that have an interest in the subject. That may seem like an obvious statement, but give me a moment. I have been recommended nonfiction books on subjects that did not really interest me and enjoyed them thoroughly. Sometimes, those reads made me interested in the topic. Other times, they did not. But in either case, it expanded my world view. In the case of this book, I would probably not recommend it to just anyone due to the dry nature of the information.
However, if you are interested in traditional medicine as it pertains to your neck of the woods and North America at large, then the lost book of herbal remedies is an invaluable book. We also do not necessarily think you have to be a survivalist to enjoy this tome. If you just love the outdoors in general and you work in your backyard or hike or camp or fish or anything like that, this book will teach you a lot about your environment.
I mentioned earlier that this is not a book you kick back on the couch with. While that is true in my opinion, my wife has enjoyed the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies so much that she keeps it on the coffee table for easy access. Every time she or I have a minor ailment, we will check the book and read about the various natural options that are available. She has even tried some of them. That aspect of the book is fascinating, and I cannot remember the last time I learned this much new info from a single book.
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The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: A Look Inside
The book begins with a disclaimer that the contents contained within are not intended as medical advice and that the book should not be treated as a medical guide. It mentions that while all of these remedies were in use at some point in the past, some do not comply with FDA guidelines. This essentially basic legalese intended to protect the publisher and authors, but there is also a point being made here that you should further research any plants you intend to ingest and any treatments you intend to use.
After the previously discussed table of contents and reference guide, the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies provides more than 40 pages on how to harvest these plants and use them. Nicole Apelian provides instructions for powdered herbs, teas, decoctions, oil infusions, salves, tinctures, distillations, syrups, poultices and so forth. There is a wealth of information in this section and a fantastic education for those interested in the topic. From here, the plants are presented in five broad categories, and we will provide a brief overview of each.
– Backyard Plants
This is a collection of plants that are found all over America. More importantly, even if a particular plant is not native to your area, you can probably grow it in your backyard. A great example of this is ashwagandha, which is native to Asia. With help from the lost book, my wife and I now grow our own ashwagandha and mix it into various foods and beverages rather than taking it as a supplement.
– Forest, Scrublands and Woodlands
As the title suggests, this section include plants that are common in these particular biomes. As with all of the plants listed in this tome, a picture is provided along with an identification guideline. Apelian indicates whether the plant is edible and its medicinal uses. She also indicates any potential warnings, such as if you are pregnant or diabetic. A highlight in this section is American ginseng, which we now grow in our garden as well and which we use for tea and in various recipes.
– Trees and Shrubs
This section begins with a wonderful chart that helps you easily identify the more than a dozen leaf types that are common to North America. It then discusses the various leaves, flowers and bark that you can either eat or use for medicinal purposes and in some cases both. We have tried several teas using leaves and pitch, and while we would not drink them on a regular basis, it would be fine in a survival scenario. We have also made lip balm from birch pitch, and that proved to be effective.
– Mushrooms and Lichens
If I had to choose one area of the Lost book of remedies to be expanded, this would be it. It starts off informing the reader that mushrooms used for medicinal purposes generally have to be put through a double-extraction process. The book teaches you a method to do this, but we have not tried it. Identifying mushrooms is a bit scarier than identifying trees and plants, and neither Apelian nor Davis did a particularly good job in our opinion of giving the reader the confidence to pick, prepare and use wild mushrooms.
– Water Loving Plants
This section includes plants that you will find in wetlands but also just about anywhere in the United States where there is a body of water or the ground is routinely damp. Perhaps the most notable plant discussed in this section is cattails, and my wife and I have actually tried a few dishes using cattails. But those recipes we tried were from Davis’ The Lost Ways book and not included here.
– Household Remedies
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies concludes with a section on household remedies. These treatments do not involve plants at all but rather substances that people commonly have in their homes. Some of the advice veers toward common knowledge, such as using activated carbon to absorb a chemical poison that has been accidently ingested. But it also covers using bleach to sanitize water, boric acid to cure athlete’s foot, cayenne to alleviate cold symptoms, cinnamon for diabetic control and many more.
Bonus Materials
The core purchase gives you access to the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies in PDF format. You also have the option to receive a hardcover copy of the book as well, and that only requires that you pay shipping and handling, which we will discuss further in the How to Purchase section. Unless you choose the physical only purchase option—which is not worth it in our opinion—The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies download will also include two additional books in PDF format at no additional charge.
1. Everyday Disaster Medicine Guide
Everyday Disaster Medicine Guide: The Brief Guide to Survival Medicine—Including Methods, Tricks and Processes for Every Step is a book written by Claude Davis. This 77-page guide provides an introduction to survival medicine. It provides strategies for first response, dealing with multiple casualties, treating bone breaks, managing shock, cleaning and bandaging wounds and so forth. Full disclosure: We have not read this book yet, but based on first glance, it looks rather meaty and well put together.
2. SHTF Medicinal Guide
This is another book by Claude Davis and the full title is an Awesome 80 square-foot SHTF Medicinal Garden. Davis is a survivalist and believes that everyone should have a medicinal garden growing in the event that doomsday arrives. Through this book, Davis teaches you how to build the garden, choose the plants, planting, tending and much more. My wife and I recently expanded our garden, and while we did not follow this guide directly, we found a good bit of the information provided here very useful.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: What We Liked
• Dense with information
• Well written and organized
• Professionally formatted PDF
• Easy-to-follow identification guidelines
• Layman-friendly recipes and instructions
This book promises a lot of information and delivers on that front. Some of our criticism of The Lost Ways by Claude Davis was that not all of the writing was on the same level and that the book was all over the place at times. In this book, Apelian has a voice that is consistent, informative and enjoyable, and Davis’ organization of the book, his editing and the appendices he provides are all on point.
We also love that a great deal of time went into preparation of the PDF. It looks great and supports all kinds of advanced PDF reader features. The pictures are all excellent. The guidelines for identification and harvesting are very easy to follow. The same is true for recipes. The first time we made a tea, we were pretty impressed with how simple and fast the entire process was.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: What We Did Not Like
• Pricey
• Cheap hardcover edition
• Section on mushrooms
While the lost book of remedies is certainly jammed full of quality information, almost $40 is pricey for a book in this day and age. That aquarium book I mentioned earlier in this review had a face value of $80 about a decade ago, but that was a physical tome with almost a thousand pages made from highest-grade paper. You have the option of a hardcover, and you only have to kick in less than $10 in shipping and handling. But the quality of the hardcover is medium grade. We would have preferred the option to pay for the hardcover and to receive a high-quality print with a well-made cover and binding.
The publisher basically just prints out the PDF, which makes the photographs look slightly less attractive. It then slaps on a garishly ornate cover with a cheap glue binding that will probably not last. Our final criticism is the Mushrooms and Lichens section. We think that section should be expanded with much more information about identification, harvesting and preparation. If Apelian and Davis did that, we would easily give this book five out of five stars. But as it is, we have to drop a half star.
Visit the official website to learn more about The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies.
Customer Reviews
Reviews from customers are overwhelmingly positive. It has a 93 percent approval rating on Google. It has a 4.8 out of five stars rating on eBay. It has a 4.5 out of five stars rating on Amazon and is listed as a #1 Best Seller within its category. We collected data on more than 20,000 user reviews, which is pretty incredible and much more than is usual when we do a review such as this one. The approval rating is almost 95% out of all those reviews, which is rather impressive but does not come as a surprise. Apelian tells you exactly what you will get and delivers on that in almost every way, and the readers respond.
How to Purchase The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies
If you want to buy The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies, the best way to do that is through the official website. The reasons we say that is that the e-book is the best version of this book to own. Furthermore, the book gets updated, and your purchase maintains you access to the download, which means when a new version gets uploaded, you can download it for free and have the latest edition.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies cost is $37, and that includes the main e-book plus the two bonus e-books. You can also opt to pay $8.99 shipping and handling for the hardcover book. You will still get access to the digital content right away, and the hardcover will arrive about a week later. There is a physical only option, but it costs the same, and we have no idea why anyone would go that route.
Refund Policy
So, you make the purchase and decide that the forgotten power of plants is just not for you. What next? Request a refund. In fact, as with most of the books that are sold through the ClickBank retail platform, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies comes with a 60-day 100-percent money-back guarantee. Just visit the official website and click the Refund Policy link at the bottom of the page. That will bring you to a brief form where you can request the refund and provide some basic contact information.
If you purchased the digital product, the company will refund your money within 24-48 business hours. If you purchased any of the options with the hardcover, you will first have to return that book to the publisher location in Boise Idaho. Once that return arrives, the company will refund your money within 24-48 business hours. Note that the refund policy only covers the base price. It does not cover shipping and handling to receive the hardcover, and it does not cover shipping and handling to return it.
Is The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies a Scam?
This is one of the most common questions we encountered among prospective buyers as this review process unfolded. What is so interesting is that we review many different books, and it is not often that you encounter this question. A dietary supplement? Sure. A book? Not so much. That said, we encountered the question while reviewing The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies as well. To answer the question, no, it is not a scam. This is a legitimate reference guide.
Does the Lost Book of Remedies Work and Are Herbal Remedies Safe?
These are the next two most common questions we encountered, and the first one is tricky to answer because we think it depends on what your expectations are. All the information provided is written by a knowledgeable and talented person who clearly has a passion for herbal remedies. I can say that my wife and I have had a great time together exploring the forgotten power of medicinal plants and expanding our backyard garden. To be honest, however, we have not yet attempted to use most of the remedies provided.
The second question depends as well. All of the herbal remedies found in this book that we vetted are safe and are viable in certain circumstances, such as a survival scenario. Am I going to treat my inflammatory bowel disease with lion’s mane? Probably not, but it is nice to know I have that option. Apelian even recommends that you do not try any of the remedies in this book without vetting them through some separate and independent sources, and we think that is good advice to follow.
Final Verdict
The hope is that our Lost Book of Herbal Remedies review gives you a clear picture of what this book is and is not. If the healing power of plant medicine is a topic that intrigues you, then this will absolutely be a book that you will enjoy having in your collection. The book is loaded with useful information, and we have had a blast identifying the plants in our own backyard.
We do hope that Apelian, Davis or the publisher reads this and feels motivated to up their hardcover game. Readers who enjoy hardcovers are willing to pay for quality, and we understand that books printed in limited runs cost more.
Dr. Apelian has created a wonderful guide, and Claude Davis has done an excellent job organizing and editing it. Nicole Apelian has also written another reference guide on remedies, and that is next on our to-do list. We also look forward to whatever she chooses to write next. It is pretty easy to make a book like this a chore to read, and she avoids that with a talent that is not very common.
Purchase The Lost Book of Remedies and have a wealth of natural remedies at your fingertips!
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