After seeing tonnes of great reviews from real people on Facebook for The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies, I decided to check out the book myself.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies by Nicole Apelian deserves every bit of praise it gets because it is simply a great, useful resource for everyone to have at hand when needed.
Some of the positive feedback I’ve seen, calls the book:
In this review, I’ll tell you more about this excellent book and why you should have it as a handy reference for the sake of your own health. I’ll tell you about what you can expect from this book, what I liked and disliked about it and how to get a copy.
Who Is Nicole Apelian?
Before I get into my review of The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies, let’s take a look at why you should listen to the author of this book, Dr. Nicole Apelian.
Dr. Apelian, you will find, not only has the knowledge and expertise to bring you this book, but she also has first-hand experience using the healing power of herbs to enhance her health and for survival.
The author is an herbalist, wilderness skills instructor, a film and TV survival consultant, anthropologist and biologist. She has also authored several books and appeared on History Channel’s hit TV show “Alone“.
Nicole graduated from McGill University in Canada with a degree in Biology. She also has a masters degree in Ecology from University of Oregon. She earned her doctorate from Prescott College while working as an anthropologist and ethnobotanist in Botswana.
She spent years living with the San Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert, where she learned a lot of the remedies and skills she now teaches and practices.
One of the most life-changing experiences she has had that ended up influencing her decision to teach others about herbalism is her battle with multiple sclerosis. She used her own research skills to go from being bed-ridden to being fully active and managing the autoimmune disease.
Despite having MS, she survived for 57 days by herself in the wilderness of Vancouver Island as part of the television show “Alone“. She showcased her survival and herbalist skills using yarrow to treat a nasty cut she got while gutting a fish.
If there’s anyone you would want to learn about herbs that can treat all types of diseases and conditions, it’s Dr. Nicole Apelian, the author of the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies.
Lost Book of Herbal Remedies Overview
Published in 2019, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is packed with over 20 years of knowledge and experience by the author. The book is subtitled, The Healing Power of Plant Medicine which is what this extensive guide is all about.
The name of the book alludes to the fact that a lot of these remedies have been used for hundreds of years and are all but lost in this time period thanks to Big Pharma and the readily available drugs and medications we now have for every ailment.
In the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies, you will find it packed with:
- 800+ plants that are beneficial to your health and well-being
- Remedies for common ailments and conditions (eg. boost immunity, indigestion, asthma, headaches, etc.)
- 2-4 high quality, color photos and details to help you identify the plants
- Easy recipes and instructions to make teas, infusions, salves, and more.
The book is well organized and you can check the table of contents, the reference guide from page 13-32 of the book, or the book’s appendix to find what you’re looking for.
To give you an idea of how organized this book is and the contents, here’s a preview of the book’s table of contents.
What’s In The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies?
The book is broken up into several helpful sections.
A handy reference guide at the front of the book lets you look up conditions and see which herbs you can get benefits from. The page number of each herb is also listed so that you can find your solution quickly.
The next section after the reference guide shows how to get the benefits out of the herbs mentioned in the book. You’ll see how to make:
- teas
- hot or cold water infusions
- decoctions
- oil infusions
- salves
- tinctures and extracts
- double extractions
- distillations
- medicinal syrups
- poultices
The bulk of the book are details about the various herbs you can use to extract various benefits to treat diseases and conditions you may encounter.
These pages are categorized by the types of plants plus household remedies like honey, activated charcoal and more.
For the herbs, they are categorized by:
- Backyard plants – aloe, fennel, calendula, chicory, feverfew, lemon balm, etc.
- Forest, scrubland and woodland plants – Black cohosh, kudzu, wild yam, etc.
- Trees and shrubs – cranberry, black walnut, horse chestnut, white pine, etc.
- Mushrooms and lichens – chaga, lion’s mane, reishi, etc.
- Water-loving plants – cocoplum, duckweed, watercress, etc.
The pages for each plant contains color photos to help you identify them easily plus there additional details in a section called “identification”.
There are also sections that describe the “edible use” of the plant, the “medicinal use” and the conditions which plants can treat and how to use the plant to do so. Recipes and warnings are also included.
Finally, the appendix can be used to quickly find the pages you’re interested in. Both herbs and medical conditions are included in alphabetical order so you can search here instead of the reference guide.
Nicole Apelian also includes a section detailing how she was able to successfully manage multiple sclerosis. It’s always interesting to read someone’s experience beating a disease using a holistic approach as opposed to pharmaceutical medicine.
What I Like About The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies
The thing I loved the most about The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies, is the sheer amount of information on various herbs and plants you can use for medicine.
I love books like this and have a few. The unique thing about Apelian’s book is the recipes for things like teas, infusions and so on.
Many of these recipes are very eye-opening and it’s not hard to see why the book is called “lost”. Not a lot of people would consider these alternatives, instead relying on a doctor’s prescription for pharmaceutical medicine.
Having the book in digital format is also a plus as I can download it to any of my devices and have access anytime I need. Some people I know would prefer hard-copy, though. The book is available for order but only ships to the US and Canada.
What I Didn’t Like About This Book
There’s not much that I can complain about when it comes to Dr. Nicole Apelian’s book.
I did raise an eyebrow reading some of the stuff in the “House remedies” section, particularly concerning using bleach. It’s kind of interesting but I don’t think I would try it myself.
Other than that little nit-pick, the book is well organized and filled with information about healing herbs and how to use them.
Where I live, there are even more plants not mentioned in this book and plants mentioned that I’m not able to access. However, I’m aware that the book includes plants found in North America. Still there’s a lot available that I’m able to benefit from.
Lost Book of Herbal Reviews from Other People
What prompted me to check out this book and do this review were the reviews I read from other people who bought The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies.
I first encountered them on the products Facebook page where people were asking about getting the book and others who had already bought the book were leaving their feedback.
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the reviews were positive. I also looked for reviews in other places and those were positive also.
I did find some negative feedback as well but these were mostly about misprinted and missing pages in the physical book but these have since been corrected.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is definitely a great book to have not only in my opinion but many others who have bought the book also think so too.
Purchasing the Lost Book of Herbal Remedies
Nicole Apelian’s book, The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is available for purchase through her website.
There are two options available.
- The digital version of the book only ($37)
- The print version of the book + the digital version ($37 + shipping)
Most people like having the tangible version of the book so that they could pick it up and go through it instead of always having to access it on a device. You’d have to wait for it to arrive. The digital version is immediately available upon payment. You can download it on any of your devices so that you’ll always have it wherever you go.
Besides The Lost Book of Remedies, there are also a package of related books available that you can purchase. These books are in the same vein as The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies.
For example, there’s The Lost Garden of Eden, a book about self-sustainable gardening so you can always have toxin-free food available to eat year round. There’s The Lost Book of Preserving Food Naturally which is a self-explanatory title. The Lost Book of Superfoods shows which foods are actually “super” and which ones you should be avoiding.
In all there are 8 books in the bundle and are digital only. Whether they’re as good as The Lost Book of Remedies, I cannot say because I didn’t get them. They do look like interesting complements to the main book, though.
You can always skip these and just get either the downloadable copy of The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies or the print version which also comes with the download.
Final Words
Whether you’re someone who has an interest in herbalism or you just want to know how to identify plants and use them for their healing powers, The Lost Book of Remedies is a great book to start with.
Dr. Nicole Apelian puts her years of experience and knowledge into this comprehensive guide in an effort to pass on the remedies that were passed down to her. These remedies have been around for ages but only a very small percentage of the population know them.
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies is very well put together and well-organized. It gives you a look at many plants you can use for healing and information on how to process them into usable medicine. The recipes can be made at home and there are also warnings and instructions on identifying the plants.
You can get The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies from Apelian’s official website. Both the digital version and the print version are available. As one reviewer said, I “highly recommend“.
