Plant Teachers

Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge

De: Jeremy Narby, Rafael Chanchari Pizuri - contributor

Narrado por: Jonathan Yen

"The dose makes the poison," says an old adage, reminding us that all substances have the potential to heal or to harm, depending on their use. This is especially true of tobacco. Although Western medicine treats it as a harmful, addictive drug, tobacco is considered medicinal by indigenous people of the Amazon rain forest. Along with the hallucinogen ayahuasca, tobacco forms a part of treatments designed to heal the body, stimulate the mind, and inspire the soul with visions.

Anthropologist Jeremy Narby first learned of the shamanic uses of ayahuasca and tobacco while conducting fieldwork in the Amazon region decades ago. After witnessing the transformative power of these mind-altering plants, Narby embarked on a quest to understand their effects on human consciousness. His search led him to contact Rafael Chanchari Pizuri, a traditional healer from the Peruvian Amazon.

In Plant Teachers, Narby and Pizuri hold a cross-cultural dialogue that explores the similarities between ayahuasca and tobacco, the role of these plants in indigenous cultures, and the hidden truths they reveal about nature. Juxtaposing two distinct worldviews, Plant Teachers invites listeners on a wide-ranging journey through anthropology, botany, and biochemistry, while raising tantalizing questions about the relationship between science and other ways of knowing.

©2021 Jeremy Narby and Rafael Pizuri Chanchari (P)2021 Tantor

Grounded and informative perspective

Grounded, Informative perspective with a splash of magic and science to top off the satisfaction. Grateful for the listen.

Connecting dots

This short book changed my whole perspective on tobacco and my relationship with that medicine relative, starting in the first half hour.

Love the science combined with indigenous knowledge!

Love the informative, knowledgeable comparison of scientific fact and ancient knowledge. Very well done! Love the narration, too!

Narby is exploring and places that interest me!

Narrator was great, This isn't really a storybook it's, nothing that will Sway your beliefs But it will give you insight into The boundaries of consciousness and biology.

Interesting and unique

I wish there was more Information on tobacco from both Jeremy and Rafael. There is so few books on sources about ancient/sacred tobacco. Most things that come up are about industrial cigarettes.
The book was too short for me. I wanted to have more information and I'm sure they have tons more info within them.
I hope they do another book focusing on tobacco

Great follow up to cosmic serpent !!

Just as good as CSOofDNA. Would recommend as must read for anyone seeking knowledge outside of western world beliefs.

Terrible narration

Please get someone else to read this book besides a bot. The pronunciation of Ayahuasca truly sounds like is computer generated as does the the intonation of various sentences from the chapters to which I’ve listened.

least helpful book I've read on Ayahuasca

This is not a helpful book on Ayahuasca. I wouldn't really recommend it to folks that are exploring the substance for the first time.

I've read Joe Tafur's Fellowship of the River, Rick Strassman's The Spirit Molecule, Javier Regueiro's Ayahuasca: Soul Medicine of the Amazon Jungle and this. I would rank this book as the least helpful.

There are some spare facts about Ayahuasca itself but aside from that I would say that it's hard to step away from thos book and think you know enough about Ayahuasca.

I would highly recommend Joe Tafur's Fellowship of the River first and then if you're more curious about the effects of DMT read Rick Strassman's The Spirit Molecule.