Kathleen Meyer - How to Shit in the Woods (3)

A subject certainly worthy of discussion, the discussion of how to excavate properly in the great outdoors and the health and environmental hazards connected with it, may be stretched a bit thin over the length of an, albeit short, book. A chapter in a general book on life outdoors would have been more appropriate. Even so, Meyer's tone is refreshingly unconcerned with propriety - she explains about the difficulties getting it right in the introduction - and the stories she has collected can be entertaining. The biggest value for me was to learn about history and mechanism of the diseases - like Giardia - that make drinking unprocessed surface water such a hazard these days. The practical tips seemed nothing common sense wouldn't have you know already, though maybe it's a good thing to see them spelled out.