Rant: That $15 Foraging Guide PDF that was just AI slop

I got super into the idea of free food from the woods last month, so I dropped 15 bucks on a digital foraging guide from some random site. The cover looked legit with nice mushroom photos and everything. But once I opened it up, it was CLEARLY just auto-generated garbage. It told me to look for 'wild garlic' in December in New Jersey, which is literally impossible. Another section said to eat a certain berry raw that I KNOW is toxic unless cooked. I lost the 15 bucks but honestly I'm more mad I wasted a whole Saturday afternoon trying to follow its directions in a park near Newark. I could have just gone to the library for free and checked out a real Peterson guide. Has anyone else gotten tricked by one of these fake internet PDFs?

2 comments

2 Comments

simontorres27d ago

Used to think a PDF was a PDF and price meant quality, but this kind of thing changes your whole view on skipping the library.

phoenixh7427d agoTop Commenter

What specific details made you realize the library version was actually BETTER than the paid one?