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Rating: 
Summary: An excellent text for an ethnobotany field methods course.
Review: This book is one of the very few that is perfect for teaching a college level ethnobotany field methods class. It covers the how-tos of data collection, hypothesis testing, plant identification and collection for both general purposes and for phytochemical analysis. The book also includes sections on anthropological, ecological, economic, linguistic, conservation, and community development skills and knowledge necessary to going into the field to do ethnobotanical research.Class curriculum can be easily organized around the information provided in Martin's book. The only drawback to this book is the fact that it sold out very quickly in its first edition and the first reprint, both in 1995, so at the moment its back ordered waiting on the next reprinting.
Rating:
Summary: good if you can get it
Review: This is a good book. I've seen the new edition, which is really just a reprint, with no updating that I could notice -- the computer analysis applications could have used an update, as technology has advanced in the years since its original publication. If you liked the original, you'll like this one. It's an excellent manual that should be read by anyone planning to go in the field. I intended to use this book for a class starting in Feb 2004, and since the release date was supposedly late 03 or Jan 04, I felt confident in ordering it. No such luck. It never did arrive, and the distributor was quite unapologetic about not even being able to track where the books were or when they might get to the US (it's a British publishing house). They even told me that I should have known better than to plan on it being out when they said that it would!! But that's not Gary Martin's fault, and I suppose it's a testament to how popular the book is. Too bad we did not get to use it.
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