Herbal Antibiotics Book

Having browsed through another book from Stephen Harod Buhner, I decided that I liked his style enough to take a plunge into herbalism with his Herbal Antibiotics.

The premise of Herbal Antibiotics is simple - fearing antibiotic resistant bacteria the author tries to come up with herbal alternatives of treating bacterial diseases.

The book explains how antibiotic resistance is neigh unavoidable and how the presence of antibiotics in hospitals; farms; and waters and the ever increasing concentration of people all contribute to make the antibiotic apocalypse more than likely.

The theory put forward by the author, and backed by research that he quotes, is that herbal treatments, unlike isolated molecules, don't create antibiotic resistance and sometimes offer more effective treatment.

The book goes on to describes "the systemics" - herbs that work against a high spectrum of bacteria and who's constituents easily cross into the bloodstream. Following the "systemics" the author describes herbs that have a more local treatment - either not effective against a broad range of bacteria or that don't easily cross into the bloodstream. Following those two chapters, is a chapter that seems to be the most original work of the author - a collection of herbs which interactions help the systemic and localized herbs - the synergists.

In addition, Herbal Antibiotics contains information about immune boosting herbs and a herbal-medicine and a chapter on herbal medicine making which covers tinctures, decoctions, essential oils, measuring etc.

What drove me to the author is his style. It is rare that someone can convey information in a way that requires no effort from the reader and Stephen Buhner is such a person. One almost reads his book like an adventure book. Unfortunately, some of the information assumes a level of knowledge that may be way over the head for most people. While it's not crucial to understating the whole, I was dearly missing pointers on how to get that additional knowledge.

To be honest, reading anything by Buhner is on the edge of my comfort zone. On one hand, he sources his statements and prefaces any inference as such. On the other, he seems to believe in homeopathy and conspiracy theories regarding medical companies and he calls himself an earth poet. What's even worse he likes Paul Krugman.

Nevertheless, the book itself is fine. It's even more than fine - it's an excellent source on herbs and their uses in combating bacterial infections!