Reddit reviews The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island
We found 2 Reddit comments about The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Except the deforestation of easter island didn't happen because people were cutting logs to transport the Moaï statues.
It is more plausible that it was the first humans coming to the island with rats onboard. This happened in a lots of pacific islands as well. They are just eating seeds, same happened to Hawaii.
And I think you are wrong about when those events took place. Actually the deforestation happened at the beginning of the island colonisation while the statues apparition was later on.
Still this is speculation based on reading. Haven't found a recent book on the subject in a while!
Edit: Found a book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/The-Statues-that-Walked-ebook/dp/B003V1WXEG
Hunt and Lipo's The Statues that Walked.
They have some more recent articles, one on whether the mata'a were actually used for warfare. Lipo et al 2016
Also Hunt and Lipo rebutting Jared Diamond:
http://www.marklynas.org/2011/10/the-easter-island-ecocide-never-happened-response-to-jared-diamond/