Herbalist Healing Remedy Reference Guides–Use Them

When I first took an interest in learning about herbal remedies, the first place I headed to was the internet. Like ‘all-things internet’, information is often profit-inspired, convoluted, incomplete, or even overly-embellished.

When it comes to holistic and energetic healing, there are a lot of opportunities for consumers to be completely misled. Opportunists really do have a large number of people to prey on in the health and wellness industry.

I have seen things listed as cures for ailments that are questionable and even downright bogus from both a logical and scientific standpoint. Silicone-Titanium Anti-Radiation Bracelets were a nice try after Japan made an epic fashion statement out of just regular ol’ Titanium man-jewelry, for example.

With herbal remedies, we are talking about medicines with potential side effects and contraindications to prescribed big-pharma provisory, so really, one cannot be too careful about the advice received. The place to head to for the real information is the bookstore for genuine reference guides, written by herbalists, botanists, doctors, and scientists. Specific publications are the real deal, kept in doctor’s offices and used as the curriculum textbooks for herbalist courses.


Pro Tip: Grab yourself a camera and take a photo of what is available at your bookstore. You can use it to remember titles, check the web for what books people like and dislike, cross-reference reviews on a site like Amazon.com, and also find out which books are part of the snake-oil sales & scammery market.

Here at my local Border’s Bookstore, there is a broad selection of books to choose from where the herbicurious can learn all about herbal goodness; in categories such as medicinal, culinary, plant identification and cultivation.

As you can see, there are multiple publications available. Some of them are updated editions that add new information to the original texts. Research data to support claims of the benefits of specific herbs may also be included in some of the new reference guides. (Obviously good information to have.)

Bear in mind that certain books relevant to the trade may be sold out from a specific physical location, or perhaps the store doesn’t bother to carry the very best stuff. In that case, looking at the selection of available reads from online bookstores gives you the ultimate list of what is available and popular.

Below the last shelf there in the photo -- I purposefully cropped out that section of books. The shelf was filled with literature authored by a certain familiar, repeated scam-tastic un-named somebody. Years ago, I managed to see one of his books being advertised on a stunning infomercial during the wee hours of one fine morning.

After acquiring the book and giving it a read, it was so wild with claims for crazy cures, there was no way I couldn’t look the guy up. Sure enough…I should have done my proper research instead of elevating my mind with the great wisdom and power that is infused into products showing on 4am infomercials. Never. Again.

Just as you shouldn’t take any single form of treatment for any illness or disease as the only option for healing, neither should you consider any single book as the only source to apply remedies from. Natural healing remedy reference guidebooks out there are a resource that can often be trusted more than the information cluttering the internet. Use them as your primary source of information.

Happy reading,