The Plant Hunter

A Scientist's Quest for Nature's Next Medicines

By: Cassandra Leah Quave

Narrated by: Cassandra Leah Quave

The uplifting, adventure-filled memoir of one groundbreaking scientist’s quest to develop new ways to fight illness and disease through the healing powers of plants.

“A fascinating and deeply personal journey.” ­—Amy Stewart, author of Wicked Plants and The Drunken Botanist

Traveling by canoe, ATV, mule, airboat, and on foot, Dr. Cassandra Quave has conducted field research everywhere from the flooded forests of the remote Amazon to the isolated mountaintops in Albania and Kosovo—all in search of natural compounds, long-known to traditional healers, that could help save us all from the looming crisis of untreatable superbugs. Dr. Quave is a leading medical ethnobotanist—someone who identifies and studies plants that may be able to treat antimicrobial resistance and other threatening illnesses—helping to provide clues for the next generation of advanced medicines. And as a person born with multiple congenital defects of her skeletal system, she's done it all with just one leg. In The Plant Hunter, Dr. Quave weaves together science, botany, and memoir to tell us the extraordinary story of her own journey.

plants will save us

the interwoven story of becoming a scientist and pushing the boundaries of science knowledge and ideas was moving and heartening. what a remarkable human and what a gift this book is

I love how the topics all come together.

I didn’t think I would get emotional with this book but in the end I did.

Great science autobiography

Interesting re. plant biology ethnobotanist and persistence in the face of obstacles, even physical medical problems.

A perfect balance of science and storytelling.

I am a botanist, and just experienced 6 weeks of 3 times per day intravenous antibiotic injections for a bone infection. The risk of antibiotic resistant diseases to anyone is real. I never thought this could happen to me.

Inspiring

I loved how the book pulls one into the world of research and the brutal honesty of science.-funding and struggles to be taken seriously as an intelligent and capable woman. Wonderful.