THE ROBIN HOOD HANDBOOK

A how-to product of the ecological-political revolution, written by an author (The Ex-Urbanite's Complete and Illustrated Easy-Does-It First-Time Farmer's Guide) who obviously knows how to profit from the Establishment even as he tells folks to drop out of it. The gimmick this time is to glorify your commune by an identification with the old English folk hero who robbed the rich to give to the poor, with the ""rich"" being anybody you decide to rip off. Amid ample quotes from sages Tim Leary, Irv Thomas (Black Bart Brigade) and ""Garbage"" Mike Sigler, there are helpful hints on such things as how to grow a vegetable garden in the midst of predators (""plant so much stuff that the animals can't possibly eat it all"") and how to make your own moccasins (""First find a deer and dispatch it. . .""). The philosophy is living free with a minimum of effort -- caves, tree houses, abandoned forest stations, houseboats, hunting cabins, mining shafts, homemade teepees, and igloos -- with an emphasis on mobility, in case the pigs come to kick you off their land. The technical info on map reading, mountain climbing, and wilderness medicine probably couldn't guide the average hippie out of LA or help them to survive more than a few nights beneath the heavenly blue. But just in case you do get that far, have your friendly copter pilot parachute you some of the other more specific handbooks listed so considerately in the book -- or, if that's too much scratch, send home for help by the suggested methods of carrier pigeon, smoke signal, semaphor, reflecting mirror, messages in bottles -- or, if the group's really sharp -- ESP.