Radical Simplicity: Creating an Authentic Life

Until reading Radical Simplicity, I didn't understand my older brother's fondness for a living in a tent in the middle of Montana winters. In an inspiring series of stories and drawings, Price shares his intimate thoughts on life as he discovers what it means to be free. He seeks a life that doesn't impose or damage the planet. He observes the most minute details in nature, learning from the plants, river, and animals that share his meadow. He plans and replans, builds and rebuilds, always improving on ideas for new dwellings. He seeks out simplicity in its purest form, and yet he's human. He courageously opens out his life for us to view, in all its bliss and pain, inconsistencies, and learning through experimentation. I think Price has found what most of us spend a lifetime trying to understand; he lives in harmony with the earth on his own terms, in his own unique way. He has found peace in freedom.

I think Dan Price's life is quite interesting. I would never live in the side of a hill like he does as I enjoy indoor plumbing, but simplifying one's life is something I am trying to do. I am slowing things down each day. I always enjoyed Dan's adventures and Moonlight Chronicle booklets. His life is full of adventure, but it isn't expensive to replicate. I love his drawings, and it makes me happy to know that someone is living on less money; that it is indeed possible nowadays. Gives me hope.

I'm definitely a fan of living simply and sustainably, both of which are obviously a large part of Dan's life. This book is more of a guide to get you started - learning what worked for Dan and what didn't, with tons of examples and great illustrations. But, Dan is a doer and that is how you will get the most out of this book. By incorporating bits and pieces of his wisdom into your everyday life.

i own dan price's other books, Moonlight Chronicles and also How To Make a Journal of Your Life. I loved them so much that i ordered a lot of the moonlight chronicle "diaries" as well. I LOVE THEM ALL. I have never met Dan, but in September, before leaving on a vacation, i decided i had to have more of the diaries. Radical Simplicity was not out yet. so i called Simple Shoes in Oregon, mentioned in all of the diaries, and they got in touch with Dan, who actually phoned me. he was on the road but managed to send me some of my order in time for my vacation. later, when i read Radical Simplicity, i was able to fill in all of the blanks i had from the diaries. I learned how Dan got to his hobbit hole, and i am so fascinated by it. Anyone interested in simple living will love this book. Yes, it is radical. yes, he does live simply. he lives in a way many of us see as ideal, but are unable to meet that ideal. Dan walks his talk and lives lightly on the earth. although i am unable to live as he does, i admire what he has done.

This amazing little volume is quite simply (pun intended) brilliant! Whether the small nests you build for yourself are still in your daydreams or your pack is on your back as you head for the meadow of your dreams, this inspiring handbook can serve as guide, mentor and friend. As with all of Dan's books, and if you haven't read them all you "simply" must, they are solid reminders in a crazy world of what really matters, of how little we need to have everything. I just finished Radical Simplicty and my journal is on my lap, my pencil in hand, and I am a child again, making forts out of blankets under tables, sketching entire miniature worlds in which to live out my magic.