[seadan83]

A sincere and big thank you for the response! The extra context and nuance are really useful to have.

My reading list is already kinda long, I think that spares you from having to dig out any references :)

My curiosity is perhaps most of what would interest a thru-hiker. I always want to learn more about how forests work, things like "bears would live here" - "these types of edible plants would grow here". If there are any books along those lines that jump to your mind - I would be very interested to add those to my reading list.

Thank you again for your responses!

[greenie_beans]

it depends on where you hike? "southeast medicinal plants" by coreypine shane would give you a lot of applicable information for the entire AT. i read "bear attacks" by stephen herrero last year before a backcountry trip in glacier national park and the information made me feel a lot more comfortable.

[seadan83]

Thank you for the info. I'm picking up "bear attacks" now :)

I'm in/around the Pac Northwest