Nancy Jason

The date of first publication, 1971, explains a lot about this book. It has the size, the pen-and-ink illustrations (which are exquisitely detailed, unlike most back-to-the-land books of the time, and all drawn from life), and the earnest attempt to gather information that had fallen into desuetude. As the author says in the foreword, "[t]here weren't many books about foraging for wild plants back then". (Euell Gibbons, as I recall, was almost the only author at the time and didn't cover show more many wild foods, but treated each in depth with an entire chapter for each plant.) This book was an attempt to be comprehensive in its variety of plants and in this it was successful. The information about each plant is well presented and as comprehensive as possible in a single page. It's hard to tell exactly where the information about each plant came from. When the author says "is reportedly useful for", "is supposed to be an excellent remedy", "has been used for", or even "occultists claim", I'm assuming that the information was not personally tested. Some of it seems to come from local First Nations, which is great. I would use this as a supplement to other useful books containing photos for identification and detailed instructions on preparing foods or remedies. show less