Pacific Northwest Edible Plant Foraging and Mushroom Field Guide by Stephen Fleming has a lot of introductory information for individuals interested in the art of foraging. The first few sections of the book explain the philosophy and steps behind foraging for edible plants and mushrooms and outlines some of the equipment and knowledge you will need to be successful and safe.
The book also contains basic identification information and images of several plants and fungi you might find while out exploring. These descriptions are general and should be backed-up with the identification of an experienced forager or an identification guide that is much more detailed if you are planning on trying some of the plants you find. However, if you are looking for a general introduction or a quick ID guide of various plants while hiking, this is an ideal book. The extra information of nutrients contained by the various plants and how the plant was traditionally used with respects to healing or food is interesting. Fleming’s chapter on how to forage responsibly and what notes to take are a good reminder to novice and experienced forager’s alike. As with other guide books by this author there is a lovely recipe section near the end, which has several delicious recipes to try out and savour. ( )

This book is a very welcome addition to the mushroom hunters arsenal. I especially like the photos and descriptions since that's what I use when I am out in the woods. It might be a bit repetitive but I think that especially for beginners it is awesome! ( )

I received a free e-book version of Pacific Northwest Edible Plant Foraging & Mushroom Field Guide (amazon associate link) by Stephen Fleming from the author through the Library Thing early reviewers program.
My Expectations: I have wanted to learn how to identify local, edible mushrooms, so I had high hopes to learn some tricks to separate the edible from the dangerous.
What I liked: I really liked that the book went beyond specific plant identification. It includes healthy harvesting techniques, preparation and preservation, and it even includes some recipes. There's a seasonal calendar for local mushrooms, which shows me when to be on the lookout, and lists a surprising variety year round. There are also adorable "Identification Logbook" pages to print out and take on foraging adventures. I was especially surprised to learn that the entire Tiger Lily plant is edible, good in stir-fries, salads, and can be pickled. Now, I'm looking forward to next year's Tiger Lilies.
What I didn’t like: I noticed right away that the writing could be repetitive. However, in a guidebook, that's probably not the worst thing. I also found the online references for the images a bit off-putting. It would be nice to have the author take first-hand images for his guide. Or perhaps the photo references could be on a page at the back, to at least create the illusion of first-hand photos. The guide could also use more images of the different identifying details.
Rating: ♦♦♦♦ 4 out of 5
Overall, I'm excited to own this book. I recommend it to anyone living in the Pacific Northwest who enjoys exploring outdoors. ( )

If you're interested in learning more about or starting to forage for wild foods this is a good beginners guide. It is like a do-it-yourself manual for getting outdoors and forging, covering everything from the equipment needed, how not to die from eating the wrong wild foods, to ethical foraging and collecting. The book is written in friendly and accessible language, which I think older kids to adults can appreciate.

The e-book had colorful pages and photographs as references. There are also a handful of recipes on how to prepare forged plants, such as dandelion tea. ( )

This book was helpful in a surface level type of way. It provided some nice recipes and helpful tips for beginning to forage, but that is where it stops being helpful. The images used to shoe the different types of mushrooms are of good quality, but are lacking variety. There should be many more pictures of each plant species to prevent misidentification. In the book, Fleming talk about checking the stems and leaves of northwestern plants but fails to provide images showing differences that could keep you from getting poisoned. Lastly, the photos in the recipe section of the mushroom section of the book are very poorly edited. You can clearly see badly photoshopped images of layers of rice, and many pictures of a circle of the dish cut out and slapped over the photo. Overall a good book don't get me wrong, but it needs a little bit more work before it can be really good. ( )