This is the dream of a backyard transformed into a community of food. An Edible Forest Garden mirrors a multicultural environment. Employing mostly perennials as the infrastructure population, a polyculture is created - these are species that can grow together, with each plant contributing to the stability and success of the whole. Such forest gardens mimic naturally found ecosystems. The establishment of such an ecosystem naturally reduces the workload needed to sustain and maintain it. Such a revolutionary approach to horticulture has received unilateral praise - both for its practical application and superb presentation. Read as nothing more than a primer on home food production or as a profound return to a natural ecological partnership with nature that insists on strength through interconnectivity and diversity, Edible Forest Gardens has much to teach us about how we conceptualize our positioning within nature. Published as a two volume set, this is an impressive reference work.