I got A Food Forest in your Garden by Alan Carter in a giveaway here. I read it cover to cover. Amazing detail on plants, unfortunately a lot were not suited to my climate, but even then it's worth recommending.
My review for it on the review grid:
https://permies.com/wiki/167916/Food-Forest-Garden-Plan-Grow#1362041
Edit: Somehow I missed your first post! Haha.
I think this book is a great introduction. It doesn't read like a technical manual and it's not exclusively for permaculturists, though there is certainly a strong undercurrent of permie values. The first sections are more ABOUT food forests, designing them, his experiences with them etc. But the plant details are the meat of the material.