Book Review: The Organic Book of Compost by Pauline Pears

As a recent convert to gardening, and someone confronting the task of composting with a degree of awe, I found Pauline Pears’s The Organic Book of Compost a very useful introduction.

The version I read was an advance copy and so the formatting wasn’t perfect. I can’t, therefore, criticise the graphics and flow charts on such things as what you can compost or what kind of compost heap you should have, but nor can I praise them for their usefulness as the were impossible to follow. But I will say that as far as I could tell they looked as if they might be very handy.

That apart, I felt the book was good at demystifying the composting process. (I now know what rookie mistakes I’ve made and how to put them right.) I felt that some of the introductory material wasn’t really necessary — for example, there was a longish section extolling the virtues of organic gardening, most of which is common sense if not common knowledge.

Overall a good and useful guide, clearly written and easy to understand.  

Thanks to Netgalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.