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Back-to-basics
book is hip again

By Cynthia Oi
Star-Bulletin

It was at the dawning of the age of Aquarius, in that peace-and-love period, when Alicia Bay Laurel's "Living on the Earth" was first published.

But the 1970 book about living simply and closer to nature remains relevant today as some Americans -- weary of fast-pace, high-tech lifestyles -- are looking for a more peaceful existence.

BOOK '"Living on the Earth," by Alicia Bay Laurel (Villard Books) trade paper, $16.95

The 30th anniversary edition of the back-to-basics guide, printed in handwritten script, is being re-issued next month.

For older boomers, it is a nostalgic glimpse of how things used to be. For Gen Xers and younger people, it may be enlightening to see that the trendy embroidered peasant blouses in mall stores now were once made and worn by hippies.

Laurel, who lives in Kihei, Maui, provides valuable step-by-step advice on gardening, sewing, weaving, making shelters and outdoor kitchens, wood carving and canning -- all skills that still interest humans. Groovy.

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