Customer Reviews

Botany in a Day: Thomas J. Elpel's Herbal Field Guide to Plant Families, 4th Ed.

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tom Elpel's book, Botany in a Day, exposes the world of plants for what it truly is -approachable and easy to get to know, no longer intimidating and overwhelming like the aloof hotty on the other side of the room. By reading his book(over and over), I reamed an understanding of a few basic properties and trends, and the world of plants and their uses opened before me. His secret is to teach the plant families first, laying down a solid foundation which can then be piled high with individual species. By the end of just one season with Botany in a Day, I began to recognize the majority of the plants I sniffed or stepped on. I even gained the confidence to pop certain plants, which I had not yet met, in my mouth and swallow, understanding their family traits and knowing they were safe without ever naming the species. I feel I've been given a valuable, wonderful gift, one that I doubt I will ever be able to repay.

This book could have been a gem for people interested in botany and healing plants, but it does not manage to fill this void. The text is not read by a professional botanist (I assume) and incorrect or dubious facts are common. Furthermore, the text is filled with typos and misspellings that could easily have been caught in a simple spell-checking program. The figures are from older literature and are not well reproduced. The aim with this book, to explain botany in a day, is highly recommendable, but I cannot recommend this book in its present shape and quality-level. A completely corrected, re-formatted, and revised edition of this book is needed. For people interested in the plant families of North America I instead recommend the high-quality work of Zomlefer: Guide to Flowering Plant Families.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone learning how to identify plants in the wild. What's different --- and so helpful --- about this manual are the descriptions of plant families and tribes. Instead of a droll botanical description, Mr. Elpel paints an easily-remembered story about each plant, with lots of info on medicinal and edible uses of each plant. If you want to really understand how to identify wild plants, this is the book for you. I have lots of field guides, but this is always the one I bring with me on hikes. Excellent, detailed artwork, too.

Botany in a day is the best primer for anyone interested in learning to identify useful and medicinal plants of the United States. Due to it's unique approach and detailed information, it is still valuable to the more experienced. A must have book. Kathryn Bensinger, MH Turtle Ridge Botanicals

When I started a new hobby of photographing wildflowers, I had no clue on the importance of learning plant families in order to identify them. If I couldn't tell from the picture in a field guide, I was up a creek. "Botany in a Day" was the first book I found that organized the families in a simple, clear way that I could understand and this system has become my main guide for grouping and identification. The herbal information is interesting, but not relevant to my project. I'm very grateful for the help I've received from this book

Though definitely *not* a field guide. This book is intended to be an introduction to plant families, and it does a good job at that. All the vascular plant families present in North America are briefly described and identification tips noted. Very few actual species are thoroughly described, though the "medicinal" properties of many species, mostly collected from other sources, are recounted here. This book would be better titled "Herbalism in a Day" as it's long on lists of medicinal uses and short on detailed botanical information. I'm pleased I purchased it, but it would be a inadequate substitute for an actual field guide or flora.

Contrary to the old axiom, this book actually delivers what it promises on the cover. By spending just one day with this book you'll get a fairly comprehensive understanding of the evolution of plants, their general classifications, and unique properties. The author writes in a very straightforward, concise, easy-to-read style that lets you absorb the information quickly and easily without being burdened with excessive detail. I also thoroughly enjoyed his Gestalt approach to Botany. I purchased this book as a supplement to my college course in Field Botany and discovered a wonderful resource.

Most plant books cover a few hundred species: Botany In A Day covers over 100 plant families and over 700 genera, from edible plants to medicinal plants, providing a focus on herbal plant families which users will find easy and important. No color photos; black and white line drawings serve as the illustration for descriptions which are detailed, from the plant's appearance to the author's experiences using the plant in applications. Botany In A Day is simply packed with information and an invaluable reference for aspiring gardeners and neophyte horticulturalists.

Overall rating: 4 stars
Plant identification: 4 stars
Plant uses: 2 stars
Picture type(s): black & white drawings
Who will find it useful: novice foragers or anyone who wants to improve their plant identification skills.

Notes: This book will teach you how to properly identify plants which is a crucial skill for foragers. There are multiple, detailed drawings of each plant and the author focuses on edible plants of each family. I consider this book a "must have" for anyone who wants to be able to identify plants while whizzing down the road at 70 mph. Sidenote: this book will tell you what parts of the plants are edible but doesn't cover harvesting techniques or recipes.

This book is great for a beginner hobby botanist such as myself. What makes it so unique is that it emphasizes recognizable patterns among plants, thus simplifying an infinately complex subject. By simplifying botany, Tom's book allows one to very quickly gain skills in identifying and using different plants. He also provides some good history of plants and a very useful key in the beginning of the book to really help the reader. The ease and interest in plant identification that this book has encouraged has driven me to continue my plant education.

Once you use this book out in the wild and start identifying and using plants, they really come alive. I will walk along an empty lot or see ornamental flowers at a restaurant and start automatically identifying them and thinking about them. Botany in a Day is best used in conjunction with other books that have good color pictures in them.