The gardener's guide to better soil

As an up and coming farmer, I have read almost of of Gene Logsdon's books and cannot praise them enough. He is exactly what you need in your life if you want to start a garden, a small scale-farm or just want to brush up on your agricultural knowledge. This book in particular breaks down every aspect of the soil and how to identify good soil from bad, as well as how to improve your soil. The heart of growing! While his books may seem like they would be outdated, they never seem that way. All his essays are still relevant.

If you're seriously into gardening organically (the real organic gardening where you care for the soil rather than just dumping on organic fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizer) - I recommend this book; I learned a lot. It covers different types of soils and what to so with them, additives and green manures, cultivation; it's very readable. It's a bit dated-looking but the information is sound. It spends more time than I'd like suggesting how to identify good land before you buy it.