Naturist Reading and Books

[jbeegoode]

Thought that this might be a good spot to have a thread about naturist, free range, and camping, hiking literature. I've got a kick off. I'm sure that there are several good reads that we have come across through the years, a list of favorites.

"The Library" is a latest post on my website. It's a part of a trip report, what we did on a nude trip, but then again....

We had a reading list, a lot sojourn, naturist, spiritual. Excerpts, comments and how we are not alone, what is innate.

https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2023/10/01/the-library/

We could even review "How to Shit in the Woods" again.  (I found a repugnant pile of trash last weekend. In it, I found a bottle of "I just Shit In the Woods" hand sanitizer!)

Jbee

[Greenbare Woods]

Thought that this might be a good spot to have a thread about naturist, free range, and camping, hiking literature. I've got a kick off. I'm sure that there are several good reads that we have come across through the years, a list of favorites.

I don't read many nudist books, but I follow several nudists on X (formerly twitter).  . 

We could even review "How to Shit in the Woods" again.  (I found a repugnant pile of trash last weekend. In it, I found a bottle of "I just Shit In the Woods" hand sanitizer!) Jbee

The book "How to Shit in the Woods" is surprisingly popular in areas where hiking is a popular pastime.  I still have a copy I bought more than 30 years ago.  There may be a later edition published. 

I'm not big on hand sanitizer.  Occasional encounters with microbes help our natural immune systems to get regular exercise. There is science which now says being "overly clean" has led to epidemic diseases in western nations. 

Most of the time when I do need to shit in the woods while hiking naked,I find that I can act like all the other animal species. Whatever residual mess tends to dry and flake off while I'm walking around naked, and my hands don't get involved.  Our bodies are disrespected way too much.   

[jbeegoode]

I recommend, "Strang Days Indeed" by Stuart Ward. It is written from a perspective in the future, about the present, which was I think, 2008, when the book was published.

Folks of the future are freely nude as the norm and looking back, telling their wide eyed grandchildren how strange it was back in the day.

A Naked Bike Ride demonstration has taken place, which begins a spontaneous eruption, a chain reaction. We read as the world flowers with naked bodies and that freedom. It is filled with interesting perspectives and twists of naturism and nudity. It should be difficult to read without pondering, "What are we thinking?"

Warning: This was written by a vegan who lives around holy Mt. Shasta. The book also reflects his other passion, that veganism.

Anyway, it is a fun book, a rich cheery fantasy. It's probably time for me to read it again.
Jbee

[Safebare]

Someone posted today that those who worship God while abusing nature are in for a surprise to find that they are one.
~Safebare

[jbeegoode]

I saw this on AP. Put it together with the aforementioned "Starring Days Indeed" book. What would happen to all of those clothes, if the western world went for clothes free freedom.

Would our wardrobes go to Africa? What could be done with all of that textile material? Some might be a mulch, but it is hardly organic. The economy of several nations could be devastated.

But, what if this article was happening because we were giving up our clothing? AND with what motive would the would this Ugandan ruler want to take clothing away from his people?

https://apnews.com/article/used-clothing-ban-uganda-east-africa-301e546cdf5c231c2c06508a652d4501
Jbee

[Barefoot Hiker]

I'm very new in naturist practices, and I have read voraciously over the past 5 months or so on the topic. One book I finished recently offered a very interesting perspective, The Naked Hermit by Neil Mayhew-Smith. He discusses naturist practices as they relate specifically to Celtic monastic disciplines. The book follows topical observations, place, water, mountains, and so forth, in a very engaging way (IMHO).

[jbeegoode]

Yea, that was a good read. It inspired a great deal of thought. The spirituality of nature and nudity aligned somewhat with the ancient practices that he recorded and I identified with some of his discovery.

I wrote an article about it here:

https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2019/09/26/the-naked-hermit/#more-6002

Jbee

[Barefoot Hiker]

Yes, thanks for the review. I resonate with much of what you and Neil M-S observe/report in the experience. In the way discussed in recent "Bible Project" podcasts, the liminal places are temporo-physical locations where sky (heaven) and land (earth) meet and the Creator's kingdom (neither future nor past, but eternally present) manifests. One does not have words to record such experiences or the depth of connectedness between self/ego and context/other inherent in them.

[jbeegoode]

Yes, thanks for the review. I resonate with much of what you and Neil M-S observe/report in the experience. In the way discussed in recent "Bible Project" podcasts, the liminal places are temporo-physical locations where sky (heaven) and land (earth) meet and the Creator's kingdom (neither future nor past, but eternally present) manifests. One does not have words to record such experiences or the depth of connectedness between self/ego and context/other inherent in them.

Our language and those related to it don't have words to define these experiences, or may I use the word places, in spite of English being renowned for its descriptive abilities.  I have been introduced to some Sanskrit language for these, such as "Sat Chit Ananda." It is still difficult to explain that which is overwhelmingly difficult to comprehend and thus giving that mystical, awe, amazement, stunning wow, that which one might find lost for words. These things are found in a moment and so how can they be described by something that "records" for past and future. As you say, "eternally present."

So anyway, people spend lifetimes and sacrifice and fall on their knees to get a glimpse of these things. I walk naked and alone in the desert and amongst natural amazement, but generally come up short on sacrifices that a complete renunciate might live. Fasting, lack of comforts are to me a temporary thing to be lived in an ebb and flow in their time and place.

These people interestingly found solitude, hermitage, but some also lived within the public. The common strand was a connection with a surrender in nakedness. I believe that these tools are inherent and should be available as a natural human right. I resent that there are so many laws and systematic social challenges against these rights. It is no wonder that some wandered away from the herd and to these places.

Jbee

[jbeegoode]

"Naked at Lunch: A Reluctant Nudist's Adventures in the Clothing-optional World" by Mark Haskell Smith is such a fun read!
We bought a few copies at a The Naturist Society Regional Gathering a few years back, got them signed after spending a couple of hours wit the author. Why a few copies? It is filled e with joking fun honest perspective and observation of an open-minded novice. It takes us around the world, displays various takes on social nudity and making it fun, leads a reader to see the harmlessness and benefits of social nudity. It is a vehicle to break in an outsider and change preconceived opinions.

It gives history of nudity and covers gymnophobia. It delivers experiences varied as cock-rings in San Francisco, to Naked European Waking Tour, Free beaches, World Naked Days, the Carribean, nude fashion and several more all in a fun unpretentious writing style. Informative, entertaining, hilarious and inspiring.
Jbee

[jbeegoode]

It's 2061 and the narrative is directed at 2007, a place in history that could be today, when there was a spontaneous social upheaval. The upheaval results in a naked/nude world, which we here might wish upon the world. It however also results in a world vegetarian menu, which is not everyone's fantasy.

Anyway, I found the 400 page read fun throughout.The perspective shows the absurdity of this worlds social values.

"Strange Days Indeed: Memories of the Old World." By Stuart Ward.

I bumped into the author at a Western Naturist Society Gathering in 2007, where I received a copy.
Jbee

[jbeegoode]

Puttering in my library, i found a companion book by Stuart R. Ward, "Body Freedom Day: When A Clothed-Minded World Unraveled." AS I said earlier in this thread, it is probably getting to be about time for me to reread the "Strange Days Indeed" by the slowly same author. The latter book is the reflections of a person in a more sensible future reflecting back on the craziness of the past, as nudity became a norm.

Body Freedom Day is a sorter read, about 100 pages, that tells the story of a spontaneous contagious nude uprising that transforms society exponentially into a primarily nude culture. It reads swiftly and upliftingly, as the world freely disrobes. It's fun.
Jbee

[nuduke]

You've got a valuable collection there, Jbee!  I looked up books by Stuart Ward and unfortunately they are incredibly highly priced on Amazon. Strange Days Indeed seems to be out of print and only 2nd hand sellers are offering at around $95!  Whilst that's the most expensive, the other one is around $50.  I'm not so hooked as to part with those sums!  If you have several copies, you might make a few bucks on FleaBay?

John

[jbeegoode]

"The Bare Creek Anthology," by Dennis Craig Smith.

Fun book, humorous, "Feather Light Verse With a Broad, Naked Smile. DCS wrote some poetry.  In time, it collected around. He amassed it into this fun book. It is mostly humor and limericks.

Me
I think that I shall never wear
An outfit fine as when I'm bare.
And if my suit offends your eyes.
It's not the fit...it's customized.

Any requests for more excerpts from this collection?
Jbee