Book Reviews 26 results

Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants In Wild and Not So Wild Places by Steve Brill

An important book for a wild food library. "Wildman" Steve Brill was made famous when he was arrested in Central Park for pulling weeds to teach people about edible wild plants. He eventually went on to be a Park Naturalist for a while and published this book on wild foods. Like others in this section, this book is good because Steve is knowledgeable, honest, and speaks from experience. He explains a lot about each plant, tells you what he used it for, and how he prepared it. He gives you ...

The Neighborhood Forager by Robert Henderson

There are books that cover the east, books that cover the west, and Young's book here which covers everything in between. The range of this book spans the area bordered by the Rocky Mountains in the west to the deciduous forests of the east, the Texas panhandle in the south to the north in Canada. The actual range of this book goes far beyond the Great Plains. 80% of the plants in this book are found in eastern North America, 25% are found to the west of the Rockies, and perhaps 15% are ...

Wild Seasons by Kay Young

There are books that cover the east, books that cover the west, and Young's book here which covers everything in between. The range of this book spans the area bordered by the Rocky Mountains in the west to the deciduous forests of the east, the Texas panhandle in the south to the north in Canada. The actual range of this book goes far beyond the Great Plains. 80% of the plants in this book are found in eastern North America, 25% are found to the west of the Rockies, and perhaps 15% are ...

Books by Euell Gibbons

Gibbons books are an important component of any great wild food library. In some ways Gibbons books have been usurped by the first three books in our "All-in-One" category. But in other ways and in some areas Gibbons research, experimentation, and play will always be worth reading. He reports knowledge based on experience. When I can't find information elsewhere, I check to see what Gibbons did. The ingenuity of his 'vegetarian mayapple chiffon pie incorporating whipped mallow will amaze and ...

Nature’s Garden by Samuel Thayer

An important book for a wild food library. I wish I had Sam's books when I was first getting started with wild foods—my life would have been easier. He has continued to produce some great work and good coverage of a wide variety of plants. At 512 pages Nature's Garden is a great value. One of the reasons I love Sam's books is that we think alike, have recognized many of the same problems in the wild food literature, and have similar solutions to problems we encounter. That is a good ...

The Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer

An important book for a wild food library. Imagine a wild food book whose author actually has lots of experience with the plants he talks about! And on top of this he is creative and practical — solving problems one might encounter gathering and making these plants into food. Welcome to Sam's world. Like Euell Gibbons, Sam devotes a revealing and memorable chapter to each plant, contributing lots of new and useful information. Going beyond Euell, he illustrates his book with lots of ...