As an aid to recognizing nature, iNaturalist works very well, because if you have one or more photos of an organism, you can count on the help of other people with a lot of experience.
(no comment on people like me, clumsily attempting to take photos - of birds - via phone + binoculars, resulting in hideous, out of focus photos depicting a point 500m away - as useful as having gps on the moon)
But if you really want to learn, it is also important to go as far as you can with the identification. For plants, at Scaini's we have many paper supports, since both my parents are passionate about plants. I remember very little now, but it is always a pleasure to pick up those books that I have went through since childhood trying to understand what adults found so interesting in looking at photos of plants.
I recently received a book that would look great in my parents' house. But this time it was sent to me by the author and it came as far as Lidingö, to enrich my small library, which mostly has books on hydrology and birdlife from the places I traveled (I need those from Friuli in Belgrade! ).
It arrived in the mail a few weeks ago. A guide, with small dimensions and well balanced contents, of the spontaneous orchids of the foce del Tagliamento:
I love pocket guides because they are a pleasant way to discover nature. Then, the orchids are a sight! They remind me that there are many people in love with our areas, and many species that need a balanced environment. Finally, this book made me understand something very important that I would like to tell you.
I don't know the author of the book in person. On the other hand, Giosuè is one of the many people with whom in the last year I have had the opportunity to exchange to understand our territory and what I can do for him. One day Giosuè phoned me to ask me about the Tagliamento, and I remember having told him what I thought, but that I didn't feel like saying anything with certainty, "because I'm not an expert". He immediately said to me "And if you don't speak, who should speak?".
Since that time, when I think I'm not sure of something, as a lover of doubt that I am, I remember this sentence. Whenever I discuss with myself some aspect of the river's morphology or the effects of climate change on flow, I remember that my doubts are very important, but also that there are many, too many people with non-evidence based opinions.
Now I also have a beautiful book about a family of small wonders of our territory, there on the shelf, to remind me of it.