I’m reading Samuel Thayer’s excellent guide to edible wild plants, Nature’s Garden.  Not only is it a lovely book, full of wonderful photos and informative text, but the very first pages, consisting of a Warning followed by a Claimer (as opposed to a Disclaimer) floored me.

The Warning consists of the standard  admonitions about exercising great care when eating wild plants, and informing the reader that some plants are poisonous, and that the reader assumes all responsibility for their own mistakes, etc.  The Claimer, on the other hand, is a well-reasoned analysis of the excesses and folly of the standard disclaimers found in many books on wild food.  The author goes on to state:

Instead of disclaiming the contents of this book, I claim them.  Every photograph and piece of text herein was included through my own discretion.  Any mistakes, unless cited to another source, are mine, and I take full responsibility for them.  I approve this book’s message, and encourage readers to use the plants as described and suggested herein.  That’s why I wrote it.

So far, so good.