57 books like The Korean Herbal Apothecary

A beautiful book of stories and recipes by a Vietnamese mother and daughter. I found this book when I was dining at their restaurant in Beverly Hills.

I have always loved their food so purchasing their recipe book was a no-brainer but as a happy surprise, I fell in love with their heartwarming family stories on top of amazing recipes. The stories of how their family survived from Vietnam, came over to the San Francisco area in the United States, opened a Vietnamese deli shop, and fast-forward many years, and now they own multiple restaurants all over California.

I relate to some parts of their stories I am also not originally from here. From making inexpensive lunch items for office workers in San Francisco to hosting celebrity-filled post-Oscars show parties, I have enjoyed reading every ounce of this book! Plus, Helen An’s pursuit of combining healthy ingredients with modern-day cooking… show more.

Everything this reality TV personality Lisa Vanderpump does looks beautiful, elegant, and expensive on TV. Of course, I wanted to see how she does that, that’s why I purchased this book.

I was pleasantly surprised by how honestly she described so many things she does as “smoke and mirrors” in her words. From owning many restaurants in different countries, she has a wide variety of knowledge on hosting people. She shared many tips on how to make beautiful presentations of food and table settings effortlessly such as decorating store-bought plain cake to make it look like a custom-ordered cake from a high-end cake shop.

Her dry sense of British humor really adds fun to reading this book as well. The recipes in this book are mainly from chefs who worked for her restaurants, I was really impressed when I tested them out but easy enough for home cooks like me… show more.

I have been a fan of Colin Cowie for years and this book totally lived up to my expectations.

He wrote how he did things and why in the most chic way possible. I have adapted several things into my life from this book. For example, I organize my dried spice rack alphabetically and have host/hostess gifts ready at all times so I am always ready for any invitation. I felt my life was more organized when I finished this book!

A true inspiration! In fact, when I was asked to write a cook/recipe book, I wanted to write a book on home entertaining instead and this book was a big part of that inspiration.

David Tutera is an incredibly talented event planner and also a very warm charming kind man whom I met in person at the First Ladies’ luncheon by Dr. Jill Biden in Washington D.C. He was in charge of the setup for the event and of course, everything was perfect! When I was reading about the opulent grand events he produced, it was like being inside a favorite movie to me.

As much as I enjoyed reading this book, I know most people only get to create these large-sized events maybe once or twice in their lives, maybe their wedding and 50th wedding anniversary party if you are lucky! That gave me the thought of writing my… show more.

We think this is Matthew’s masterwork, forming the most thorough and sensitive contemporary herbal in English. When we say ‘sensitive’ we are referencing Matthew’s intuitive understanding of a herb’s specific qualities, or virtues.

He combines this feeling for a plant’s individuality with a thorough knowledge of the way it has been favoured in traditional herbal medicine and how he has used it himself, quoting from cases arising in his long clinical experience. A proponent of ‘drop dosing’ or using the least amount of herb necessary, he is often surprising, sometimes controversial, but always well-informed and elegant in his work.

Plants are our companions through life. We grow, pick and eat some of them, but how much do we really value them? Our ancestors had an intimate knowledge and understanding of the power of plants and were aware of which were helpful and which caused harm. They wrapped comfrey leaves around the damaged legs of animals, believed that fairies sheltered from the rain beneath ragwort plants, cured childhood hernias with the aid of ash saplings, and recognized the benefits of rosehips long before science could analyse their nutrients.

Hatfield’s Herbal follows the tradition of so many other excellent herbals, weaving botany, plant magic, medicine, and folklore into an engrossing mixture that always keeps me reading long after I found what I was originally looking for. Read a good herbal and you’ll never look at a so-called weed in the same way again.

There’s so much to love about this book, a comprehensive guide with information from leading experts like Dr. Lester Grinspoon and Dr. Andrew Weil. Written by a leading psychiatrist, it covers everything from the physiological and psychological effects of cannabis to the politics surrounding its vilification and its re-emergence as medicine. This book was a breakthrough when it was published in 2010—before adult use had been legalized anywhere—and it has become a classic.

This is the first volume of a trilogy on psychoactive plants and synthetic drugs. While this is a well-worn path, I’ve never seen it traversed quite like this. Pendell weaves together science, alchemy, illustrations, poetry, and quotations to reveal the spirit behind each molecule he discusses. The sections on stimulants are the longest and most enthusiastic, while the hallucinogens are given the most whimsical prose. It’s a fascinating treatment of a fascinating subject. Some will hate it, but the right person will love it.

This book offers a response to a deep longing to be in the world with childlike curiosity. It encourages our direct perception of life through the energetic heart field. Although it is meant as a knowledgeable guide for listening to and communicating with plants, it elicits a poignant call during a time of profound alienation. Encouraging the letting go of top-down linear thinking, Buhner offers a step-by-step somatic path for decolonizing the soul. I discovered by exchanging the word “psoas” for “plant” the book easily becomes a personal guide for increasing our core awareness as it inspires opening the heart by rooting into a reciprocal relationship with the living Earth. To me, re-wilding my relationship with the deepest aspects of self is vitally personal and imperative if all life is to truly flourish. 

This is a classical book on magical herbalism that has a prominent position on my bookshelf and which I always refer to when exploring plants and herbs. I love the unique way that this book connects you to the magical properties of herbs and plants, by exploring for example their astrological connections.

I have obtained so much value from this book, not only from the knowledge gained of herbs and plants but also from learning how you can use plants and herbs in different ways for healing, for example by making incenses, which is explained so clearly in the book.