Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide

Book Description

Long before sunflower seeds became a popular snack food, they were a foodstuff valued by Native Americans. for some 10,000 years, from the end of the Pleistocene to the 1800s, the indigenous peoples of the plains regarded edible native plants, like the sunflower, as an important source of food. Not only did plants provide sustenance during times of scarcity, but they also added variety to what otherwise would have been a monotonous diet of game. Nevertheless, the use of native plants as food sharply declined when white men settled the Great Plains and imposed their own culture with its differing notions of what was fit to eat. Those notions tended to exclude from the accepted diet such plants as soapweed, lambsquarter, ground cherry, prairie turnip, and prickly pear. Today it is strange to think of eating chokecherries, which were a key ingredient in that staple of the Indian diet, pemmican.

Based on plant lore documented by historical and archaeological evidence, Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie relates how 122 plant species were once used as food by the native and immigrant residents on the prairie. Written for a broad audience of amateur naturalists, botanists, ethnologists, anthropologists, and agronomists, this guide is intended to educate the reader about wild plants as food sources, to synthesize information on the potential use of native flora as new food crops, and to encourage the conservation and cultivation of prairie plants.

By writing about the edible flora of the American prairie Kelly Kindscher has provided us with the first edible plant book devoted to the region that Walt Whitman called "North America's characteristic landscape" and that Will Cather called "the floor of the sky." In describing how plants were used for food, he has drawn upon information concerning tribes that inhabited the prairie bioregion. As a consequence, his book serves as a handy compendium for readers seeking to learn more about historical uses of plants by Native Americans.

The book is organized into fifty-one chapters arranged alphabetically by scientific name. For those who are interested in finding and identifying the plants, the book provides line drawings, distribution maps, and botanical and habitat descriptions. The ethnobotanical accounts of food use form the major portion of the text, but the reader will also find information on the parts of the plants used, harvesting, propagation (for home gardeners), and the preparation and taste of wild food plants.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book;entirely usable in the field........1998-12-12

I think this is an excellent book; well-written, with excellent translations of Indigenous People's names for these plants. (I am both D-/Lakota, speak, read, and write my languages; and forage for plants.) IF I have a criticism, it is (1) that the book should have a sequel with another 130 or so plants including both food and medicinal uses, and (2) I would wish for GOOD, SHARP color photographs of the plants as harvested AND as you would see them if you were looking closely for them where they usually grow. The sketches are extremely well done but there is nothing like color to show the differences between plants that appear similar (at least until your eye is honed). Tinpsila, for example, has a near look-alike that grows in the same area where I hunt, and it is hard to teach novices the difference in person, harder from a book with B/W sketches. I like the facts that (1) she includes the medicinal uses of at least some of the plants in the book; (2) she notes the spiritual/cultural perspectives of us Indigenous People, and (3) she doesn't make any majority-culture or "Christianity Way" comments on our Traditional perspectives when she does this, nor does she refer to our Traditional beliefs in the past tense. Our Traditional Ways and beliefs are still very much alive and being lived; even if the number of us practicing them is not all of our People at the present time. If I could have only one book to take with me if I were to be "lost" somewhere, I think it would be this one.

Book Description

The Resource for the Independent TravelerFor over forty years Let's Go Travel Guides have brought budget savvy travelers closer to the world and its diverse cultures by providing the most up-to-date information.Includes: Over 4,000 entries at all price levels for lodging, food, attractions, and more Must-have tips for planning your trip, getting around, and staying safe The hottest bars, clubs, scenes, and events In-depth cultural information that offers an insiders' look at life in the city Hundreds of opportunities to make a difference-study, work, and volunteer in the communityFeaturing not-to-be-missed ExperiencesConnecting to the Culture: Visit San Francisco's noisiest locals-the brawling, barking sea lions on Fisherman's WharfHidden Deals: Pay like a pauper but feast like a king on Chinatown's sumptuous dim sumOff-the-beaten Path: Soak in an eclectic array of contemporary and experimental art on Union Square's Post and Sutter StreetsContains Dozens of Detailed MapsGet advice, read up, and book tickets at www.letsgo.com

Book Description

What do you do when you know your boyfriend cares for someone else?

Melissa Fox has ruined Jessica Wakefield's life.

She's turned practically everyone at school against her--

Except the person who matters most... her boyfriend Will Simmons, who keeps taking Jessica's side.

Customer Reviews:

This book was amazing .......2006-08-17

Melissa Fox is totally messed up because her boyfriend Will Simmons dumped her and she can't understand that so she takes 27 sleeping pills to end her pain, but she ends up in the hospital. But before this all happened she turned almost everyone in the school against Jessica Wakefield because Will and Jessica like each other. But now Jessica feels the responsible when Melissa commits suicide. Will is always taking Jessica's side and that's one of the reasons why Melissa hates Jessica. But Jessica started going out with Jeremy and doesn't feel comfortable around him, she thinks she likes him but she actually likes Will.
Conner DeMercott and Elizabeth Wakefield like each other so they start dating. The problem is that Elizabeth's best friend Maria Slater likes Conner and she told her that. So Conner and Elizabeth decide to keep it as a secret. They mostly make-out but at the end Maria found both of them kissing in Conner's kitchen. Maria started to cry and she left.
This book is about love, life and time.

Your Basic Nightmare (Sweet Valley High Senior Year, 6).......2006-08-17

Melissa Fox is totally messed up because her boyfriend Will Simmons dumped her and she can't understand that so she takes 27 sleeping pills to end her pain but she ends up in th ehospital. but before this happened she turned almost everyone in the school against Jessica Wakefield because Will and her like each other. Will keeps on taking jessica's side and that's one of the reasons why Melissa hates Jessica. But Jessica started to go out with Jeremy and doesn't feel comfortable around him, she thinks she likes him but she actually likes Will.
Conner DeMercott and Elizabeth Wakefield like each other so they start dating. But Elizabeth's best friend Maria Slater likes Conner and told her that. so Conner and Elizabeth decide to keep it as a secret. They mostly make-out but at the end Maria found them kissing and she started to cry and left.
This book is about love, life and time.

WOW i cant wait to read the rest.......2005-07-14

i LOVE SWHSY it is the best book series i really liked this book because i LOVE seeing liz and conner together. i think i am the ONLY person who feels sorry for melissa, i mean will cheated on her and she obviously has issues i think if she had let jess explain things would have turned out differently. all in all it was a great book but im tired of everyone thinking jess is so mush Better looking than liz THEYRE twins i know everyone has thier "twin" and liz is mine keep on the look for me in the future im on to the next book

I have some empathy for melissa.......2004-02-17

okay, we all love jess and liz and want to destroy anyone who goes up against them.this is how i first felt about melissa. she started all these rumors about jess. wait- before i go on ,i let you know i have only read a few of the senior year books. anyways, this book helped me understand liss more. she is not just completely evil, she has problems. like the deal with her mother. doesn't anyone else feel for her? SO in the end my oppinion of liss has slightly wavered from hatred to sympathy.

Good but just a comment..........2004-01-12

This is one of the best books of the series. I love the Conner-Liz thing. However... I just wanted to point out, I think in this book something like Maria and Liz go into the Riot and laugh as Tia pull them into the crowd. It's something like "Liz laughed then coughed at the second hand smoke." Smoking's been outlawed in California bars for a while. Just a comment.

Book Description

The question of whether biologists should continue to use the Linnaean hierarchy is a hotly debated issue. Invented before the introduction of evolutionary theory, Linnaeus' system of classifying organisms is based on outdated theoretical assumptions, and is thought to be unable to provide accurate biological classifications. Ereshefsky argues that biologists should abandon the Linnaean system and adopt an alternative that is more in line with evolutionary theory. He illustrates how the continued use of this system hampers our ability to classify the organic world, and then goes on to make specific recommendations for a post-Linnaean method of classification.

Customer Reviews:

I have been waiting for this book in years.......2004-07-30

Gradually general principles of classification and knowledge organizations have become more clear to me. An important insight is that any classification of a domain must be based on theories or views of that domain. I try to verify this on different domains. This is not always easy, and some of the most influential classifications seems to contradict this principle. This is, for example, the case with Linnaean classification in biology, which was developed before Darvian and modern evolutionary theory and it is the case with the influential psychiatric classification DSM IV.
Ereshefskys book on the Linnaean classification in biology represents high class scholarship in both biology and philosophy and it is a goldmine of arguments for a general philosophy of classification. Besides it is an indication that philosophy can make itself a productive part of of specific specific scientific research.

Book Description

This volume presents a selection of expository papers on various topics in engineering mathematics. The papers concern model problems relating to, amongst others, the automobile and shipping industries, transportation networks and wave propagation. Among the methods treated are numerical methods, such as the finite element method and Newton's method, Karmarkar's interior point method and generalizations, and recurrence and induction in computer science.
This volume will be of great interest to applied mathematicians, physicists and engineers interested in recent developments in engineering mathematics.
The papers are written with an emphasis on exposition and should be accessible to all members of scientific community interested in modeling and solving real-life problems.

Book Description

A debononair young Englishman, Psmith (“the p is silent, as in phthisis, psychic, and ptarmigan”) has quit the fish business, “even though there is money in fish,” and decided to support himself by doing anything that he is hired to do by anyone. Wandering in and out of romantic, suspenseful, and invariably hilarious situations, Psmith is in the great Wodehouse tradition.

Customer Reviews:

Best Wodehouse book I've read.......2007-09-12

In my opinion, this is the best of Wodehouse, and I was pretty surprised at it.

The Last Of Psmith Is The Best.......2007-07-20

"Leave It to Psmith" was originally published in the U.K. on November 30, 1923 by Herbert Jenkins, and in the U.S on March 14, 1924 by George H. Doran. The edition I am reviewing is from "The Everyman Wodehouse" series published by Everyman's Library in the U.K., and for those in the U.S., you may be able to find the equivalent quality in "The Collector's Wodehouse" series which is being published by Overlook Press.

I did not have high expectations for this book, because I didn't think "Psmith in The City" was very good, but Wodehouse's writing clearly improved greatly over those 13 years, and the merging of the Psmith character with the cast at Blandings Castle was great chemistry. The character of Ronald Eustace Psmith (formerly known as Rupert Psmith and in both cases the P is silent), was much more interesting in this book than I found him before. He fits right in with the other Blandings characters such as Lord Emsworth, Freddie Threepwood, and a great foil for Rupert Baxter.

In this story, we have a diverse set of characters, all converging on Blandings Castle, and more than a few with the idea of stealing Lady Constance's necklace. Their motives are rather diverse, but whether they want it for money, freedom, or love, there is no shortage of people out to get it. As one would expect in any Wodehouse story, there is a fair amount of assumed identities and amazing coincidences which drive the story forward. Psmith, himself takes on the identity of Mr. Ralston McTodd, a poet from Canada in his pursuit of the beautiful Eve Halliday. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the flower pot scenes, which is some of the funniest writing I have read in a long time.

As the second of the Blandings Castle novels, and the last of the Psmith novels, this was a great improvement on both of those series. The Blandings series would continue to grow from this point, and there are many more great stories in that series. I do not believe the character of Psmith appears again in any of Wodehouse's stories, but the fully developed Psmith that appears in this work does foreshadow such characters as Jeeves and Uncle Fred. If you didn't care for Psmith in the previous works, you may still want to give this one a try. This is Wodehouse at his best.

One of woodhouse' finest!.......2007-05-15

"Leave it to Psmith" is an amazing tale of an amazing writer. It is the fourth novel about the character Ronald Psmith (The "P" is silent, he explains, "as in phthisis, psychic, and ptarmigan."), and also the secong novel that takes place at well known Blandings Castle. In the Opinion Journal from the Wall Street editorial page, Roger Kimball selected "leave it Psmith" as the first of his five favourite comic novels. And indeed, it is, even in competition with the Jeeves an Wooster stories. It is quite simple, you like this kind of stories, with this kind of humor (for instance, if you like the quote and you can see the humor in that one-lined but already multi-layered joke, you must be a Woodhouse fan, whether you know it or not), or you don't understand even the tiniest bit of what people find so funny about it at all. In that case, don't bother. There may possibly be a therapy for it, but since I don't need that I can't help you. I have (after about 15 years) rediscovered this fantastic book, and yes, reading it brings it all back, every word still in my mind. I will not hesitate and I will reread the Jeeves and Wooster novels as well, but I am very glad I found this one again, the orange penguin was a bit, well, torn apart really. And it deserves a new generation of dedicated followers.

Psmith rocks.......2007-03-09

Many Wodehouse devotees seem to feel that Leave It to Psmith is the weakest of the Psmith books--but what does that mean? So it's the worst of the very best. How bad can it be? If you love Wodehouse, you'll love the book. If you love Psmith, you'll presumably be delighted to see his situation apparently "wrapped up." If you are unfamiliar with Wodehouse but love the English language, beware: Read Leave it to Psmith (or any other snippet of Wodehouse) and you'll be hooked. Wodehouse is the master of the comic narrative. He is simply the very best. Once you pick him up, you can't put him down until you've read all of him--and then you'll be ready to re-read him.

Can a lover of the English language not love Wodehouse and Psmith? As Jeeves would say, the mind boggles.

Marvellous!.......2006-06-29

"Leave it to Psmith" is part of the Psmith series by PG Wodehouse. This story tells of a debonnair young man, Psmith, and how he chases the girl of his dreams whilst at the same time, solving (and aggravating!) the problems of the people around him. Throughout all the mayhem and foibles, Psmith never loses his cool and definitely not his manners and composure.

A light and engaging read, Psmith is truly a delightful character created by PG Wodehouse. Filled with beautiful prose and incredible wit, this book has to be one of Wodehouse's best. Look out for the scene where the Efficient Baxter contemplates how he should get back into the house when he was locked out in the garden. I consider that part to be the apex of the book and writing at its finest!

Average customer rating:

Leave it to Psmith
P. G. Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Beagle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KEZ56U

Lap Psmith Klare Den- (Leave it to Psmith)

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Lap Psmith Klare Den- (Leave it to Psmith)
P.G. Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Oslo Jespersen.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LH3EDW

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Leave It To Psmith
P G Wodehouse
Manufacturer: The Folio Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GV1XWM

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Leave It To Psmith
P G Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Herbert Jenkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LYRJPY

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Leave It to Psmith
P.G.Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KDLZCY

Product Description

#357 mapback

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Leave it to Psmith
P.G. Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIV8OK

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Leave it to Psmith
P G Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Herbert Jenkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J2MF8Y

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LEAVE IT TO PSMITH
P. G. Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HDOH72

Leave It to Psmith Frantic Fun and Blandings Castle -- Dell Mapback 357

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Leave It to Psmith Frantic Fun and Blandings Castle -- Dell Mapback 357
P. G. Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OV9W3Q

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