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What reviewers and readers have been saying about
COMING OUT OF THE WOODS: The
Solitary Life of a Maverick Naturalist
by Wallace Kaufman
Some of America’s
best writers and readers pair Kaufman with Thoreau, find his story full of
fresh insight into human ideals and natural mystery, deeply moving, often
hilarious, and true to the word ‘maverick.’
"Coming Out of the Woods is a much needed corrective to unexamined
Thoreauvianism, deliciously skewering the sanctimonious pieties that afflict
too much of today's environmental and nature writing. Wallace Kaufman is a
splendid storyteller and a thoughtful social critic--wise, honest, and
consistently funny." (Robert Finch, author of Death of a Hornet and
Outlands: Journeys to the Outer Edges of Cape Cod)
"An absorbing,
unflinching, and surprisingly comic account of how one man--a devoted
father--withdrew from the world and gradually returned. It's as wise and
instructive as it is compelling." Novelist and essayist Reynolds Price
"Wallace Kaufman's
thought-provoking book, Coming Out Of The Woods is . . . convincing and
beautifully written. His personal experience in the woods is recounted with
humor and intelligence."
Jeanne McDonald, Metro Pulse, Nov. 3, 2000, Knoxville, TN
“. . . both a
powerful respect for all things wild and a keen understanding of the
complexity of the simple life.” Graig Cox, Utne Reader, Jan-Feb. 2001.
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
Essayist and physicist Chet Raymo in the Boston Globe calls it a “wise
and funny book” and says, “How refreshing, then, to have a book
called “Coming Out of the Woods,” by an environmentalist who
doesn’t look at the wild through rose colored glasses.”
From Publishers Weekly:
"In this gracefully written, leisurely memoir, Kaufman wages a running
argument with his former guiding light, Thoreau."
"A vegetarian and
organic gardener, Kaufman doesn't condemn hunting, and his critique of what
he sees as the romantic fallacies of environmentalists and back-to-the-land
enthusiasts undergirds this iconoclastic meditation on our place in nature
and on the kinship between humankind and animals."
From Library Journal
July 2000
"Strongly recommended for public libraries with collections on the
outdoors."
McIntyre's Book Store
says:
Wallace Kaufman’s Coming out of the Woods is a must for anyone who
lives in Chatham
County, loves nature or
just enjoys a great read. I just finished Kaufman’s memoir and
thoroughly loved it. Kaufman is a famous naturalist who lives in Chatham County. In the early 60s, while
teaching English at the University
of North Carolina, he
somehow found himself developing what he hoped would become his own Walden, a
place where people could live in nature. It wasn’t long before he found
himself with the blood of many trees on his hands and the residents of
Pittsboro proper calling his Saralyn development, off Russell Chapel Road, "Hippie Town." Very readable and told
with a self-deprecating tone, Kaufman joins nature and literature in this
wonderful work. I highly recommend this to add to your summer reading list.
:. . . an entertaining,
moving, and distinctly late-twentieth-century story of a life lived in the wild
as landowner, environmentally conscious developer, builder, farmer,
conservationist, wilderness steward. His love of nature and his commitment to
preserving it never waver, even as he tells the sometimes hilarious,
sometimes catastrophic story of the ragtag cast of 1970s
"back-to-the-land" characters who buy shares of his land in the
wake of the first Earth Day; of trying to build a road without cutting down
trees or disturbing a streambed, but at last giving in and learning to
chainsaw and dynamite; of building his own home; of resorting to violence
when flying squirrels refuse the special niches he builds into his walls and
insist on taking up residence in his ceiling; of preserving his old-growth
forest; of the awesome devastation of hurricanes.”
Village Bookstore, Littleton, NH
recommended reading.
Mary Miller in The Raleigh News and
Observer.
He stayed in the woods 10 times longer than Thoreau; he became a cutter of
trees and land developer in other housing projects around Chatham County, not
to mention a staunch capitalist and a firm believer that the
only way to preserve wildness is through civilization. It has been a
fascinating trek, one he tells well in his memoir "Coming Out of the
Woods: The Solitary Life of a Maverick Naturalist."
Kaufman's view on life
from the woods may be a little different than those of us who live in towns
and cities, but his story is not. Most of us just came to parts of the
Triangle long after the trees were felled. In neighborhoods we have
designated "historic" the struggles are basically the same: how
much space do we need to live? Will our choices infringe upon our neighbors,
be they people, plants or animals? What kind of mark are we making on this
place we call our home, and how long will it last?
READER REACTION:
S. Salem, NY. "It is a real page turner
- I didn't expect that given the subject matter. . . . a wonderfully readable
writer who packs a page with important information, observations and
insights. It all flows so beautifully."
San Diego. "it was a very emotional
experience for me. . . .It was like reading one of the most beautiful love
stories I've ever encountered."
Atlanta, GA. “. . .a book that will
change the way they look at the world, at the struggle between nature and
human attempts to alter nature, and at their place in their space and their
time.
Santa Monica, CA.
"First of all, the writing style is a pleasure to peruse; it's very much
like having a conversation with someone in which you, the reader/listener,
don't have to do a lot of the talking because the speaker/writer is a good
story teller."
New York, NY. "The book is well written
and is a page-turner. I have a more sanguine feeling about Thoreau after
reading it, and I don't exaggerate when I predict that some reviewer will say
that you are the successor of Thoreau, but the more sensitive thinker
regarding nature and the wilds."
Indiana. "[the] story is an
interesting and compelling one - and, though I found it in the Environment
Section, it could just as well have been in the Philosophy Section. That this
is a work of love there can be no doubt; perhaps, this is the greatest gift
to the reader."
Aspen, Colorado. ". . . a gentle book,
deeply evocative of the transitions and compromises we all make in
life. . . . Once someone actually picks it up, they will be hooked."
Knoxville, TN. "It is a fine read
and I have laughed out loud more than once. A fine ride of insight, opinion
and
poignancy."
Western NC. "Finished Coming Out of
the Woods last night. I laughed, I cried.. My wife said she hadn't seen me so
engrossed in a book since she couldn't remember when."
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