Book Review: "Naked at Lunch"

(There is a thread for this book over in "Certified Chat", but since I'm not certified and I think more than just certified people should know about this book, I'm posting this here.)
"Naked at Lunch: A Reluctant Nudist's Adventures in the Clothing-Optional World"
This book was released at the beginning of June 2015. I highly recommend it. In fact, I recommend that every nudist have a copy.
The author, Mark Haskell Smith, has written several books exploring "fringe" cultures; most of them are fictional novels, his other nonfiction book covers cannabis botanists. He writes of himself in "Naked at Lunch": "I'm especially fascinated by subcultures that are deemed morally suspect or quasi-legal: the people who pursue their passion even if it means possible imprisonment or stigmatization by society." Nudism certainly qualifies.
In writing the book, Mr. Smith takes an "embedded journalist" approach. He visits nude beaches and nudist resorts, hikes with a group of nudists, and culminates his research with a nude cruise. He also interviews several prominent nudists, including Mark Storey of TNS and Richard Foley of Naktiv. The book is written as a mix of travelogue, interviews, and essays. In my opinion, he does a thorough job explaining nudism's roots in the 19th century, its rise in Germany and other parts of Europe, and its eventual migration to the USA. As a person who likes to think I've studied these things a bit, I feel he did a really good job investigating nudism's origins; there are a few gaps and some things I'd have liked to see more coverage of, but on the whole he gets it right.
He does not present a candy-coated idyllic picture of nudism. He discusses its link with eugenics in Germany, Cap d'Agde's swinger culture, some of the internal schisms, and other not so nice and pure aspects of nudism.He is not particularly critical of sexuality mixed with nudity (e.g. swingers) but he does recognize the difference between nonsexual social nudism (he carefully uses the term "nonsexual social nudism" repeatedly in the book) and sexual libertines.But he quickly "gets it". Throughout the book he is sympathetic and empathetic with nudists. He quickly realizes that running around without clothes on feels pretty good, and expresses criticism of the USA's gymnophobia.
This is a great book for any nudist to read to get a feel for the history of nudism, to know that this nudism thing is a movement with a past and weight. The travelogue sections let you vicariously experience some pleasant (and not so pleasant) trips to well-known nudist places.
I also think this would be a great book to have on hand to give to any non-nudist friend or relative to whom you want to explain nudism. The author starts out as not a nudist, and claims to still not be one at the end even though he spent a lot of time acting like one. Several places in the book he asks the questions, "Why would anyone want to do this? Isn't it just a cover for public sex? Why do people get so offended by nudity?" All the classic questions. You could mark a chapter or two, hand the book to someone, and say, "Here, read this."
On the critical side, I will say it is not the most exciting read. There is little suspense, high emotion, plot twists or other things that make for a compelling read. In some places it seems the author mentions something he did just so he could claim it was "research" for the book. There are a few places where he seems to over state a point just to up the page count.
It is great to see a mainstream book on nudism that is so positive and sympathetic. It appears to be marketed as a fun, edgy, summer read.

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