ANDOVER, Mass.—Wade Davis, noted plant explorer, ethnobotanist, photographer and author, will discuss his book, Light at the Edge of the World: A Journey Through the Realm of Vanishing Cultures, at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, in Kemper Auditorium, 5 Chapel Ave., on the Phillips Academy campus.

Named by the National Geographic Society as one of eight “Explorers of the Millennium,” Davis has spent more than 20 years searching remote corners of the world for traditional plant medicines. “Indigenous people are notorious for playing tricks on anthropologists,” he says. “But if you are studying plants, that makes sense to them. You are exploring their base of knowledge, their wisdom. People think you are the most reasonable white man they’ve ever seen, and you can find out anything you want about the culture.”

Davis is best known for investigating Haitian folk medicines used in the creation of zombies, an assignment that led to The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), an international best seller that was released by Universal as a motion picture. This and later experiences led to a profound belief in the need to preserve the ethnosphere, which he defines as “all the thoughts, beliefs, myths and institutions brought into being by the human imagination.” It is the subject of his book of photographs and essays, Life at the Edge of the World. Davis has authored nine books, made several prize-winning TV programs and documentaries, and has widely published his photographs.

For more information, call the R.S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology at 978-749-4490.