Racing Extinction

An exploration of the explosive illegal trade in succulents and the passion that drives it

For more than twenty years Dr. Mark Plotkin has searched the Amazon for plants that heal. He is an ethnobotanist, a scientist who studies the relationship between indigenous people and plants. He set out on a mission to find a cure for diabetes, a disease that killed both of his grandmothers. THE SHAMAN'S APPRENTICE charts the story of Mark's discoveries, and looks at the astonishing ability of native people to manage their environment.
THE SHAMAN'S APPRENTICE is a story of survival against the odds. It interweaves the luminous rainforest world of phenomena and legends with western science and the grim realities of extinction. In the story of one man's quest to preserve the ancient wisdom of our species, we find intelligence, cooperation and hope that could save one of the most glorious places on Earth.