Remember when we used to identify plants with actual printed field guides?

Last week I was at the local nursery trying to remember the name of a shrub my grandpa showed me 3 years ago on a hike near Asheville, and I realized I've been relying on my phone for so long I couldn't even picture the book we used. Has anyone else caught themselves missing the feel of flipping through a dog-eared guide instead of scrolling a plant ID app?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunakim1mo ago

Dog-eared guide" is kind of romanticizing it. I remember those books getting stuck in my backpack and pages falling out. A phone app isn't perfect but at least I don't have to carry a brick around.

eric_murray2627d ago

Yeah the pages falling out thing is real. Those cheap glued spines never lasted more than a season. Plus the paper would get wrinkly from humidity and the ink would smudge if your hands were sweaty. Phones just handle real world conditions way better. A ziplock bag can only do so much for a book.

parkerp801mo ago

Dog-eared guide" is romanticizing it for sure. I had a field guide to mushrooms that literally fell apart in a rainstorm because the glue dried out, and I spent an hour trying to dry out the pages on a campfire. That experience pretty much made me switch to apps - at least my phone fits in my pocket and doesn't disintegrate when it gets wet.