Flamingo Estate: The Guide to Becoming Alive

by Richard Christiansen

From inside the walls of Flamingo Estate—an abundant, visually rich guide to filling each day with radical pleasure, including wisdom on wellness, food, activism, design, nature, work, love, and more.

Perched high above Los Angeles and nestled within a lush orchard and verdant gardens sits Flamingo Estate, a pleasure-filled enclave of nature worship, folk mythologies, and powerful healing remedies. At Flamingo, Mother Earth is the ultimate luxury and pleasure is a human right.

Flamingo Estate’s founder, Richard Christiansen, invites you inside his renowned home and to meet his friends and heroes. Presenting fifteen pleasure principles inspired by nature's wisdom, Christiansen reveals how a deep relationship with nature offers a life of pleasure and joy.

Discover how to flirt like an orchid, embrace winters like a plum tree, work like wisteria, and court your shadow like the fern. Combining hundreds of sumptuous images and luxurious rituals for well-being with stories from Christiansen’s own journey of awakening, Flamingo The Guide to Becoming Alive is a rousing call to reject a life of tedium and luxuriate in the radical pleasures of the natural world. 

Featuring conversations with luminaries from food, activism, wellness, and the arts, FondaMartha StewartJohn LegendChrissy TeigenJane GoodallAlice WatersKelly WearstlerDavid de RothschildElise LoehnenErica ChidiEllen DeGeneresTerry Tempest WilliamsDr. Nigma Talib
+ MoreCELEBRATED AUTHOR AND  Richard Christiansen is a beloved and respected leader in food and wellness. His global brand, Flamingo Estate, has been covered by a wide range of outlets, including the New York Times, Architectural Digest, Food + Wine, Vogue, Oprah, goop, Forbes, and many others. He cultivates more than 150 varieties of flowers, fruits, and vegetables at Flamingo Estate and produces a range of luxury apothecary products, including candles, lotions, soaps, honey, and more—all celebrated for their quality and traceability.

Perfect of Flamingo EstateFood and wellness enthusiasts Anyone experiencing burnout or seeking stress reliefDécor enthusiasts and readers of Architectural Digest and OprahFans of Kelly Wearstler and Martha StewartPeople interested in slow living and sustainabilityFlower lovers and gardenersMother's Day gift shoppersReaders of Michael Pollan, Peter Attia, Arthur C. Brooks, and Natalie Walton

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Art, Food

528 pages, Hardcover

Published November 19, 2024

Reviews

[Lauren Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to rate this book. Full disclosure, I had never heard of Flamingo Estate before I read this. I googled it after I finished reading. $50 bottles of olive oil, $98 for a jar of honey, a $60 tomato scented candle. This is a high end lifestyle brand out of LA. I'm definitely not the target audience for this magnum opus of a book. At 530 pages its a comprehensive look at the origins, history, and ethos of the brand including interviews with authors, celebrities, thought leaders, and Jane Goodall! I did appreciate the obvious dedication to natural, pleasurable, sustainable living. The before and after photos of the estate were really neat to see. I'm sure anyone familiar with this brand will enjoy hearing the author's point of view. 3 stars for me personally but rounded up to 4 for the breadth, depth, and sincerity of the work.

ARC from NetGalley

[Craig Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful images and aspirational

[Megan McSherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

stunning coffee table book with really great interviews from a variety of people - jane goodall, jane fonda, chrissy tiegan and john legend, etc

[eclaire de lune · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always really liked Flamingo Estate, as a brand: the beauty of its visuals and aesthetics, its commitment to hedonism in an increasingly more puritanical world, and the way it makes simple farm produce and lifestyle items into luxury goods. On that front, this book delivers. The photography is gorgeous, the descriptions of growing things, food, and botanical products lush and evocative.

However, the more philosophical content of the book - the essays from the author, as well as the interviews with various activists and celebrities - undercuts that somewhat. It's impossible to ignore that the only reason Christiansen had the funds to purchase Flamingo Estate, hire entire teams to revitalize it, and turn it into the brand it is today is because of the fifteen years he spent working in New York that he speaks of so unhappily. The interviews range from inspiring to insipid - it's hard not to be impressed by the work of someone like Jane Goodall or Jane Fonda, but then there's Martha Stewart, whose entire section was basically just a bragging list of her business accomplishments, with nary a mention of insider trading. (I have to specially note the doula/sex activist who spent most of her interview making the point that people are losing touch and intimate connections with their bodies due to their phones and technology, only to end with a shameless plug for her own app.) There's also the biggest hits of yuppie activism - condemning people for eating fast/processed food without acknowledging the socioeconomic conditions that push people into that decision, or the companies making that food; the fetishization of indigenous agricultural and environmental management techniques without including any indigenous voices in the book; and so on.

At the end of the day, I wish this had just been a product catalog that you could simply flip through, enjoy the photos, and fantasize about receiving the tasty treats ad luxury objects, without any sort of high-minded lectures. Because that's what this is, really - a product catalog in disguise as a coffee table book. By trying to be more than it is, the book works against the brand's core philosophy, making it impossible to ignore that it promotes hedonism not for hedonism's sake, but for profit. (The photo captions extolling their different products, that have been lifted verbatim for use on their Instagram, make this clear.) The Guide to Becoming Alive, this book is called. And the guidance it ultimately provides? Buy from Flamingo Estate.

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved and took away so many things from FLAMINGO ESTATE: THE GUIDE TO BECOMING ALIVE. There is so much beauty and wisdom in this book, that there were several moments I had to pause after while reading in order to fully take in the beauty I just read. And often, there were emotional. As a lover of gardening, I still learned things and enjoyed everything this book has to offer... especially the photos and the messages from nature such as how nature wishes to be different... it's just is as it is. A book for avid and pro gardeners and even for people who aren't! It felt sensual and like a luxury reading this book. It's such an experience that you feel alive while reading it! I greatly enjoyed the conversations and the inspiring people he has them with. I can't wait to get a hard copy... the perfect coffee table book!

Much gratitude to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

[Rebecca Esposito · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "The Guide to Becoming Alive," Richard Christiansen celebrates the raw, unfiltered beauty of connecting with nature and ourselves.This book whispers profound truths about finding joy in life's simplest moments - revealing how pleasure isn't a luxury, but a fundamental human right. Through stunning photography and poetic insights, Christiansen invites readers to embrace life's seasons, to "flirt like an orchid" and "work like wisteria," reminding us that our most authentic experiences often cost nothing more than our willingness to be present. His writing is beautiful and his messages are meaningful. It's a luminous exploration of living wholeheartedly, where each page feels like an intimate conversation with Mother Earth, urging us to reject tedium and luxuriate in the radical, sensual experience of simply being alive. I have gifted this book to 6 people and counting.

[Crista Lash · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book encourages deep connection with oneself and the world surrounding, while also evoking a bit of envy for the idyllic life at the beautiful estate - thanks to the stunning photos.

The wisdom shared in this book truly felt like a warm embrace for my spirit.

I’ll keep this book - on the coffee table - forever, not just for its aesthetic, but with intent to pick it up and read – even if it’s just a paragraph or two. I’ll encourage myself and anyone who visits to do the same.

I’m incredibly grateful & privileged to experience Flamingo Estates products – I truly adore everything about them, from the branding to the quality. This book deepened my love and admiration for the brand & the people behind it.

Yo Richard, can I please hang out with you?

[Rebecca Enslein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A visual and tactile delight, this gorgeous book is a feast for your senses and your soul.

I loved reading the story and seeing the images behind the scenes of this beautiful brand, as well as the wisdom contained in its many pages of interviews.

Definitely one you need to hold in your hands and not read on a kindle!

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already loved everything about Flamingo Estate—and this book did not disappoint. It's so inspiring, all about slowing down and living with more intention. I love the wisdom drawn from nature. And the photography is dreamy.

[Brittany Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transports you to another space and time. The ethos is everything I aspire to live out.

[Chelsey Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, inspirational, thoughtful interviews and just an all around pleasure.

[Kim Darwaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about Flamingo Estate and buy their products regularly.

[Ayla Fitzgibbon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious, exciting and everything you need.

[Raul S · Rating 5 out of 5]

nature and gratitude

[Judie Parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful and profound and spot on. I read a chapter each day so I could really absorb what I had read. I will be referring back to the conversations for years to come.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book - creativity and sustainability woven together with life stories

[Bethany Farchione · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cover to cover, amazing.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard book to rate. Giving it 4 for stars for the depth and sincerity of the work.

[Kolby Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a work of art