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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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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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Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influences on Early American Feminists

by Sally Roesch Wagner

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Jul 17, 2025 03:25PM

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Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet

by Kate Marvel

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Jun 26, 2025 05:11PM

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Richard Reese is currently reading The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas W. Tallamy	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
Aug 08, 2025 03:44PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Nature of Oaks by Douglas W. Tallamy. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Nature of Oaks by Douglas W. Tallamy <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Richard Reese is currently reading Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone by Minna Salami (Goodreads Author)	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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Richard Reese is currently reading Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest by Josephine Woolington	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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Richard Reese made a comment on his review of Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters " Goodreads doesn’t like links in comments. McGuire, Bill, Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide, Icon Books, London, 2022. Read, Rupert and Samuel Alexan ...more "
Dec 26, 2023 02:31PM · see review
Richard Reese wants to read Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich	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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Richard Reese rated a book did not like it The PallasCeres Report: An Energy Transformation Plan to Guide an Intelligent Physical Contraction and Metaphysical Expansion of Society Away from Fossil Fuels by Megan K Seibert	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
The Kindle version of this book is awful. It does not follow the brilliant formatting parameters that make Kindle interface so remarkably flexible and powerful. You can’t change the font, the font size, brightness, contrast. You can’t search for word ...more
Sep 26, 2023 09:02AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The PallasCeres Report by Megan K Seibert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The PallasCeres Report by Megan K Seibert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">