Cass Turnbull was an arborist and master pruner from Seattle who founded Plant Amnesty, a non-profit organization with a sense of humour, dedicated to ending the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs. And to preserve urban greenspaces and mature trees through education, resources, and advocacy.
She used to lecture in Victoria and Vancouver every few years, and she was a delight to listen to. I always learned so much from her talks. Much of her skill and 'how-to' is encapsulated in this brilliant pruning book. Easy to follow with clear and simple illustrations and explanations, Cass makes naturalistic pruning skill accessible for even the newest gardeners.
You can read whole sections or just look up the specific plant that you need to prune. She organises shrub pruning into easily-recognisable growth types, which allows you to figure out how to prune something even if you're not sure what it is!
This is the best and most practical and useful pruning book I've ever read. And I've read a lot. It is the first thing I show to new employees in my gardening business and encourage them to use it as a resource whenever they have doubts about how to prune certain plants. Invaluable!