Ah…..the beauty of occidental society. I would have to agree with you about a plant being the ultimate chemist. This is clearly based on the conception of evolution. The plant is infinitely complex because it has continually evolved in sporadic even contradictory ways. That’s the problem and beauty with evolution. It has no end point nor does it have a goal. The plant is that much closer to perfection adaptation because it has lived much longer than us. You are right about plants as being good remedies to sickness. There are stories in medical anthropology of western doctors being amazed indigenous healers and their ability to find and use exotic plants as medicine. I never really disassociated pharmaceuticals with plants. I thought pills were encapsulated plants. I’ll have to do more research. As for humans our culture has actually generated evolution from within. A good example is p.falciparium malaria. We (indirectly) gave female mosquitoes great breeding grounds when we switched to a sedentary life-style. This introduced malaria and humans then eventually evolved to have sickle-cell. Sickle-cell in its heterogeneous incarnation does not hurt the carrier and guarantees immunity to malaria. A biological change in humans aimed at fixing a mess caused by humans. Homo Sapien Sapien is at a crossroad. Our technological achievements have unhinged us from our connection to nature. We can either push towards mechanization or turn back. Or maybe I’ve created a false dichotomy. I guess only time will tell. As for the book, haven’t read. I will check it out (if it is at the local library. I’m broke)