The Last of the Medicine Men (2000)

An investigation into the dramatic and mysterious world of shamans and witchdoctors around the globe, focusing on the harmonious, herb-gathering Mentawai of Siberut, the shamans now bizarrely emerging in urban Tuva, the Vodou practises of Haiti, and the Huichol of Mexico - where perhaps the most traditional community of North America gave Benedict the rare privilege of ritually taking their peyote, the hallucinogenic cacti, to bring him at last "face-to-face" with the gods.

Recommended for: anyone interested in shamans and medicine men, and healing practices. Also, those simply interested in other ways people see the world. A suitable gift (it's a hard-back).

Benedict's comment: I persuaded the BBC to undertake what turned out to be the biggest ever such TV series and argued for a book that wouldn't resemble a TV-tie of any sort. This is the result – a pragmatic, and honest account of all I witnessed while spending time with remote and "exotic" healers around the world.