Customer Rating:  
Summary: youll never starve in the woods after reading this book
Comment: This is a book of possibilities. Tom covers about Fifty plants... Deeply.
He gives their personalities and the stories of how they came into his life and Grandfather's instructions on use. By no means encyclopedic, He covers the few plants on a practical and spiritual level. A very unique book, very inspiring.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a field guide but a personality guide
Comment: In this book Tom isn't really trying to make a field guide to identify edible/medicinal plants. He is trying to get you to enjoy those plants, not just use them. Each plant that he talks about has a story that goes along with it. Whether it is the first time he took a sip of catnip tea or an adventure down the river on a raft made from sassafras trees that had been cut down. I have found this book extremely helpful in enjoying and getting to know the types of plants described. Which i find in turn helps me a lot with identifying them from look a likes and really appreciating what i do find to eat.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a field guide but great stories
Comment: I love Tom Brown, and his stories about plants are an important part of how I practice herbal medicine. But this book would have been much much better if it had illustrations or at least drawings. As a result, I leave the book at home and read it for enjoyment, cross-referencing it with a field guide if need be.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for the info it has, but not an identification and classification book
Comment: This book is written from the standpoint of someone who needs to use plants either for survival or bush medicine. It is not the best or most accurate filed guide for identifying or classifying plants. I found it best to use this book in conjunction with an Audubon field guide. The Audubon filed guide will give you a picture and a better description of the plant that you are looking for, Tom Brown's book tells you what to do with the plant when you find it.
Tom browns book is the more important part of this equation, what good is knowing what a plant looks like without knowing what it is used for? So, I recommend using a different field guide for finding a certain plant, and then using Tom Brown's guide and practice making the medicinal applications and teas that he has. This book was not designed to take the place of a standard photographic field guide. It is designed to be used first in conjunction with a standard field guide until you know the plant and can identify it, then the illustrations and such are only to jog your memory in the field if you are looking for a certain remedy plant but its been a while since you messed with it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A warning for readers
Comment: This book contains a description and uses of the plant comfrey.
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Before you go out ingesting plants you should look them up at reputable medical sites to see if they can cause problems in people or interact with prescription drugs.
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