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Richard Adrian Reese

Goodreads Author

Born

in Pontiac, Michigan, The United States

Website

http://www.wildancestors.blogspot.com

Genre

History, Psychology, Spirituality

Member Since

October 2012

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I grew up 30 miles northwest of Detroit, in a subdivision surrounded by forests, meadows, lakes, and farms. We kids spent a lot of time outdoors, and felt at home in nature. There was far more fun to be found in the woods than in sitting indoors with the latest gizmo, television.

In 1974, I earned a degree in history from Western Michigan University. My vision was to acquire land, live simply, and follow the winds of creativity. So, I worked and saved.

In 1992, I bought an old farmhouse near Lake Superior, in northern Michigan. For nine years, I spent far more time with wild animals than with humans. I lived without a refrigerator, water heater, television, or flush toilet. I heated with wood, bathed in a sauna, composted my waste, and melted I grew up 30 miles northwest of Detroit, in a subdivision surrounded by forests, meadows, lakes, and farms. We kids spent a lot of time outdoors, and felt at home in nature. There was far more fun to be found in the woods than in sitting indoors with the latest gizmo, television.

In 1974, I earned a degree in history from Western Michigan University. My vision was to acquire land, live simply, and follow the winds of creativity. So, I worked and saved.

In 1992, I bought an old farmhouse near Lake Superior, in northern Michigan. For nine years, I spent far more time with wild animals than with humans. I lived without a refrigerator, water heater, television, or flush toilet. I heated with wood, bathed in a sauna, composted my waste, and melted snow every winter, when my pump froze for months.

I feasted on the beauty of the northern lights, intense whiteout blizzards, deer, bears, coyotes, eagles, foxes, and beavers. I enjoyed an intimate experience with the living world that most mainstream people will never know.

I spent some time with native people. For them, the land, the life, the spirits, and everything else were sacred. This felt so much more coherent than the human-centered religious beliefs of the dominant culture. My years in the forest were a time of intense learning and healing, a great gift. Today, in consumer society, I feel like an outsider visiting a strange realm.

For more than 20 years, I have devoted much effort to understanding the turbulent saga of humankind. I’ve read mountains of books. We’ve created a way of life that is spectacularly unsustainable. It has no long-term future.

For the last six years, I’ve been studying and writing full time, seven days a week. Intensive learning invigorates critical thinking, and illuminates dodgy beliefs and myths. This leads to a state of mind that is strikingly different from the mainstream thinking that is closing the curtains on the future.

My goal is to help those who seek to learn, to help them ask deeper questions, to encourage them to think outside the box. Once the coming storms have passed, many huge obstacles to sustainable living will be gone. The path home will be long and challenging. It’s time to share what I’ve learned. I hope that some of it may be useful. Welcome!

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Combine Editions
Richard Adrian Reese’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 21 ratings · 7 reviews · 3 distinct works

	What Is Sustainable: Remembering Our Way Home 4.15 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2011 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sustainable or Bust 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Understanding Sustainability 3.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival

by Richard Heinberg

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Nov 04, 2025 01:25PM

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Feed Us with Trees: Nuts and the Future of Food

by Elspeth Hay (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 30, 2025 01:17PM

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The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees

by Douglas W. Tallamy

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Aug 08, 2025 03:44PM

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Richard Reese is currently reading Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet – A Scientist's Hopeful, Heartbreaking Exploration of Climate by Kate Marvel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Feb 23, 2025 01:48PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Theodore Roosevelt by Theodore Roosevelt. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Theodore Roosevelt by Theodore Roosevelt <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">