Pilkey argues that barrier islands move, whether we like it or not, and that attempts to stabilize them nearly always make things worse. A wonderful read, especially for your next beach vacation. Pilkey is regarded as something close to the devil incarnate by coastal developers and their allies

This short book tells us stories which tell us a great deal about Mayan culture and values amongst the Jakaltek-Maya in Guatemala. These stories reinforce values of community, ecology, the perils of laziness, and above all...RESPECT for elders. Sometimes these fables seem to have no moral whatsoever, but nonetheless, are usually entertaining. As the importance of the oral tradition amongst Mayan peoples is gradually deteriorating due to modernization, Montejo gives us a wonderful glimpse at Mayan fables, and the values they pertain to.

These lucid stories of creation, nature, ethnic relations and ethnic conflicts, related to Victor Montejo by his family and the elders of his Guatemalan village, are illustrated with images reproduced from ancient Mayan artifacts. Although useful in reconstructing the history and anthropology of the Maya, the tales can also be enjoyed by readers of all ages and backgrounds.

"The book's illustrations...help connect ancient Mayan myths with the oral tradition that persists today. Mr. Montejo's introduction to this tradition is a gift that outsiders should treasure." --The New York Times Book Review

"...all the stories offer a satisfying blend of humor and wisdom. This engaging anthology provides adults and children with rare insights into one of the cultures that make up the tapestry of contemporary Southern California." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Interesting graphics from Mayan sources help underscore the essential originality of this volume." --Library Journal

"...THE BIRD WHO CLEANS THE WORLD is one of the few books to capture the oral Mayan tradition, making it also a crucial study of pre-Columbian beliefs." --The Bloomsbury Review

Wallace Kaufman doesn't know what he is talking about. And it's dangerous. He talks and talks and people believe. He says things ("facts") that aren't true. In his book, he doesn't do his research, jumps to conclusions, and sends a boulder crashing through his neighbor's roof. In a similar way, he comes to conclusions about the environment, woodworking, recycling, &c. It's dangerous.

Our local paper (like Kaufman I'm from Pittsboro, NC) printed a letter to the editor from a woman who had read Kaufman's new book, and believed it. Now she is sure recycling is bad for the environment and that the rain forests aren't disappearing.

Here are some "facts" that aren't true, that I know enough to correct. I'm also going to give the sources of my information (unlike Kaufman).

When talking about a neighbor's new porch (p. 127) he says, "'Those red oak boards will rot,' I warned him...Three years later, the boards had turned black and mushrooms began to grow out of them." He goes on to say of red oak boards that you have "to drench them with preservatives" to make them last. Now it is true that milled red oak will rot, but people make riven shingles out of red oak and they last for 30+ years without preservatives. Roy Underhill, in THE WOODWRIGHT'S COMPANION, p.154 says, "Since the splitting follows the grain of the oak from end to end, the exposed surface is made up of tiny tubes torn open down their whole length... Many folks like to shave shingles to a taper and a smooth surface. If you were to do this on a riven red-oak shingle, you would cut into the pores of the wood, open the grain, and allow it to become saturated with water, and it would rot in no time. Sawn shingles are just as bad or worse."

Kaufman also talks about owl pellets (see p.148), "An owl pellet (in common language we have to call it a turd)..." An owl pellet is a bundle of hair, bones, &c. that an owl regurgitates after it's meal. However, my dictionary's definition of 'turd' is, "a piece of dung." 'Dung' led me to 'excrement', the definition being, "waste matter from the bowels."

On p. 125 he says, "The house had endured because builders had selected the very best yellow pine and white oak. They had used only slow growth heartwood that is heavy with crowded annual growth rings." Back to Roy Underhill's book, THE WOODWRIGHT'S COMPANION, p16. "In pine timber slow growth and tight rings make tough, dense, strong wood, just as you might expect. In oaks, however, the effect is just the opposite. Slow growth in oak makes for weaker, more porous wood of a lower density. The reason for this is that every spring an oak has to put out a new set of leaves before the next tree or it's out of business. To get this mass of vegetation out, massive amounts of water must be run up through new plumbing that forms in the wood each spring. These large vessels form a band of constant width in every growth ring, followed by the denser, stronger wood formed during the summer growing season. The slower an oak tree grows, the closer together these bands of weaker spring wood will be. A slow grown red oak can become so porous that it appears to be 90 percent nothing."

These are just things I, a 16 year old, knew enough to find fault with. It would be interesting to see what someone knowledgeable about the environment or the Native Americans would find is incorrect in Kaufman's book.

Kaufman spends twenty years doing what all of us nature lovers think we could do-Live alone in the woods for a lifetime. Well Kaufman isn't always alone and 20 years may not be a lifetime but it is a signifcant commitment to "the simple Life." And the revelations Kaufman comes back with are not exactly what one might expect. Like modern advancements and capitalism is good for nature? Not totally, but similar to Bill Bryson's observations in his big hit A Walk in the Woods, the reality of modern enviromentalist's ideals is not always what it is cracked up to be. And I think 240 months(20 times longer than Thoreau) in the woods qualifies Kaufman as much as any body to say so. Though he lacks Bryson's swift narrative and comical anecdotes, what we gain from Kaufman is an update from Walden Pond that we might be surprised to read. The book will also help quell any idyllic thoughts you might have about dropping out of society to pursue a life in the woods. Because after finishing this book you may find that Kaufman's experience was enough.

Here is a writer who conveys the complexity and beauty of nature without putting on rose colored glasses. Coming Out of the Woods inspires, entertains, informs and tells a page-turner story that reveals how all human interaction with nature demands tradeoffs. Think of it as an update of Thoreau's Walden, but with a strong story line and conclusions appropriate for our time. I recommend it highly for introductory environmental studies courses, American literature courses, or courses on literature and the environment.

Orrin Pilkey James B. Duke Professor of Geology Emeritus Duke University