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Radical Simplicity
Radical Simplicity is a hand-lettered, illustrated book that speaks directly and elegantly to that craving we all have for an authentic life, one that we’ve each hand made� for ourselves, rather than one dictated by outside circumstances. Author Dan Price, a Thoreau for the twenty-first century, has helped champion a growing trend that’s been variously referred to as downshifting,� opting out,� or simple living.� What makes his book so different and engaging is that he speaks from the authenticity of first-hand experience, for Price is an American original who has made his dreams a reality. His message is: You can live a life of freedom, in harmony with the rhythms of nature, and your own internal rhythm and creativity. You can live very well with very little money. That’s what I’ve done, and I can show you how.� This is as much a reading� book as a how-to guide, one that expresses its profound insights into carving out a life of meaning in a beautiful, practical way. It is bound to strike a chord with world-weary baby boomers as well as time-pressured but still idealistic members of the younger generation.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
May 16, 2007
Radical Simplicity is a book written by a man who's decided to follow an extreme path of simple living - living in a field in various extremely small houses he builds for himself and then abandons or destroys when he decides to try out something different. He has a lot of interesting ideas and it's neat to get a peek at his life as he keeps pushing the limits of what kinds of structures humans can inhabit and how simply humans can live. While I definitely can't see myself doing anything similar, it was interesting to see that he's pulled it off for a long time and is able to make it work for him; but the thing I couldn't get past - in this and in other accounts I've read of people taking "the simple life" to extremes - is that it seems like this kind of radical simplicity almost ALWAYS comes with a breach of relationships. In 's case, he doesn't entirely part ways with his partner and children, but they no longer live together and seem to have cycles of spending more and less time together. I got frustrated at the book mostly because I don't think a lifestyle that almost necessarily involves hurting and/or abandoning other people is truly a healthy lifestyle. There has to be some kind of a balance.
March 17, 2009
dan price is a WILD MAN! and i love him. this book is an account of his radical way of life--living extremely "simply." he is crazy and wonderful and i wish i could be more like him!
May 19, 2011
I put off reading this book because I disliked some of the page formatting so much.
I bought it because Amazon suggested I might like it. These suggestions are both a pain and rather interesting, because in the end, I did quite like it, but I certainly would never have bought it without Amazon's suggestion.
The front cover is sweet. It is simple, with childlike lettering and pictures. Inside the simple formatting in places just looks twee, and I instantly distrusted the subtitle: 'Creating an Authentic Life'. Even (or perhaps especially) the word 'authentic' these days smacks of dodgy dealing.
Inside, I was all right with the black print on white or grey pages. I was not all right with the white typeface on green pages. I was very definitely alienated by the handwriting font on greenish pages with watermarks and pictures. I hated white typeface on black pages with green pictures. Please GOD save me from green typeface on black page underlined in white and toped with a black and white photograph.
Enough already.
Apart from all this, which is truly AWFUL and ruins the book, this little book is written by a quite peculiar man who loves making houses. You remember making dens when you were small? He has taken that idea throughout his life and it is entirely fascinating. He left his wife and kids living in a house and went off to live in a teepee. He makes all sorts of dwelling places, simple and simpler. At the end of the book he's living in a burrow, like a hobbit, being part of the earth. He has diagrams and plans. He loves making small and safe places to live.
Yeah -- he's probably on the spectrum, as they say. But then maybe we all are, to some degree, because I loved the idea of the houses, the planning, the making, the finding safe little places outside to live in, to think in, to get close to whatever is natural.
Whoever persuaded him to format the book in this way should be taken somewhere in the desert and forced to live in an airconditioned hotel for at least ten years. It is totally wrong and it really put me off. But Dan Price is quite interesting. The whole idea is rather interesting. It explains to me why I always liked camping and why a bit of me still longs to do that, although my other half (like his) does not. And I'm not ditching everything to spend my life planning alternative dwelling places, after all.
However, I think where we live has some sort of corroboration in our heads. That is to say, our houses outside have some connection with our brains inside. When we walk round them, we walk round our inner space as well. I dream a lot about attics and cellars.
So I'm glad I read this book, and it will stay with me a lot more than other books I thought presented a whole lot better.
I bought it because Amazon suggested I might like it. These suggestions are both a pain and rather interesting, because in the end, I did quite like it, but I certainly would never have bought it without Amazon's suggestion.
The front cover is sweet. It is simple, with childlike lettering and pictures. Inside the simple formatting in places just looks twee, and I instantly distrusted the subtitle: 'Creating an Authentic Life'. Even (or perhaps especially) the word 'authentic' these days smacks of dodgy dealing.
Inside, I was all right with the black print on white or grey pages. I was not all right with the white typeface on green pages. I was very definitely alienated by the handwriting font on greenish pages with watermarks and pictures. I hated white typeface on black pages with green pictures. Please GOD save me from green typeface on black page underlined in white and toped with a black and white photograph.
Enough already.
Apart from all this, which is truly AWFUL and ruins the book, this little book is written by a quite peculiar man who loves making houses. You remember making dens when you were small? He has taken that idea throughout his life and it is entirely fascinating. He left his wife and kids living in a house and went off to live in a teepee. He makes all sorts of dwelling places, simple and simpler. At the end of the book he's living in a burrow, like a hobbit, being part of the earth. He has diagrams and plans. He loves making small and safe places to live.
Yeah -- he's probably on the spectrum, as they say. But then maybe we all are, to some degree, because I loved the idea of the houses, the planning, the making, the finding safe little places outside to live in, to think in, to get close to whatever is natural.
Whoever persuaded him to format the book in this way should be taken somewhere in the desert and forced to live in an airconditioned hotel for at least ten years. It is totally wrong and it really put me off. But Dan Price is quite interesting. The whole idea is rather interesting. It explains to me why I always liked camping and why a bit of me still longs to do that, although my other half (like his) does not. And I'm not ditching everything to spend my life planning alternative dwelling places, after all.
However, I think where we live has some sort of corroboration in our heads. That is to say, our houses outside have some connection with our brains inside. When we walk round them, we walk round our inner space as well. I dream a lot about attics and cellars.
So I'm glad I read this book, and it will stay with me a lot more than other books I thought presented a whole lot better.
September 8, 2014
"And all those cliffs I walked off, in the end, revealed truths as simple as that. when you're willing to give something up the rewards you receive are always way more interesting than what you had."
This is an interesting little book. Short, nicely illustrated with line drawings and full of little examples to make you think. Dan Price is a guy who has eschewed life's bindings - renting a couple of acres of riverside meadowland in Oregon he has lived in a tipi, a tent, a wooden shack and finally and underground cosy hobbit hole. In doing so he has slowly divested himself of as many of his possessions as he can do without, living as simple an existence as possible.
Along the way his wife and children have opted not to go with him, but as they live within 6 miles of his field, he seems to still see a lot of him, they just weren't as ready as he was to live without the unncessary comforts of 4 walls, a solid roof and running water :)
Throughout the book, Price maintains that he knows he's an extreme example of this type of life and the he doesn't expect others to join him in dropping out of consumer society (although secretly he'd quite like it - but he wouldn't like the company in his own field), but every time he decides that he doesn't need something its a sign that this can be done, that we don't NEED to live the way we do now and that all of us would benefit from more silence, from less stimulation, more connection with the ground beneath our feet and the stars above our heads.
I see in the other reviews that Price has been criticised for calling himself a hobo, because he doesn't live on the railways and because he's done this by choice and he does probably have a safety net that he could fall into if he really wanted to. But I think that that's being unnecessarily harsh on the man - I get the impression that he really sincerely believes in what he does and that his life fulfills a deep-seated need in his soul.
Reading the book, I was jealous of his quiet, dark nights sitting in his handbuilt domed sweat lodge, communing with his inner voices, getting inspiration from "the old man" of nature. sure, he can be a sexist dick at times in the book, but I guess that shows he's still a human, not some radical simple living deity.
If you thought that Thoreau was inspiring because he lived in his friend's garden for two years, then you'll find Dan Price a revelation. If nothing else, it's got me drawing up plans to build a domed natural wigwam, with an opening flapped roof in my back garden to look up at the stars on warm quiet nights. (Oh and it's also shown me that in the UK when we say wigwam, we really mean tipi :) )
This is an interesting little book. Short, nicely illustrated with line drawings and full of little examples to make you think. Dan Price is a guy who has eschewed life's bindings - renting a couple of acres of riverside meadowland in Oregon he has lived in a tipi, a tent, a wooden shack and finally and underground cosy hobbit hole. In doing so he has slowly divested himself of as many of his possessions as he can do without, living as simple an existence as possible.
Along the way his wife and children have opted not to go with him, but as they live within 6 miles of his field, he seems to still see a lot of him, they just weren't as ready as he was to live without the unncessary comforts of 4 walls, a solid roof and running water :)
Throughout the book, Price maintains that he knows he's an extreme example of this type of life and the he doesn't expect others to join him in dropping out of consumer society (although secretly he'd quite like it - but he wouldn't like the company in his own field), but every time he decides that he doesn't need something its a sign that this can be done, that we don't NEED to live the way we do now and that all of us would benefit from more silence, from less stimulation, more connection with the ground beneath our feet and the stars above our heads.
I see in the other reviews that Price has been criticised for calling himself a hobo, because he doesn't live on the railways and because he's done this by choice and he does probably have a safety net that he could fall into if he really wanted to. But I think that that's being unnecessarily harsh on the man - I get the impression that he really sincerely believes in what he does and that his life fulfills a deep-seated need in his soul.
Reading the book, I was jealous of his quiet, dark nights sitting in his handbuilt domed sweat lodge, communing with his inner voices, getting inspiration from "the old man" of nature. sure, he can be a sexist dick at times in the book, but I guess that shows he's still a human, not some radical simple living deity.
If you thought that Thoreau was inspiring because he lived in his friend's garden for two years, then you'll find Dan Price a revelation. If nothing else, it's got me drawing up plans to build a domed natural wigwam, with an opening flapped roof in my back garden to look up at the stars on warm quiet nights. (Oh and it's also shown me that in the UK when we say wigwam, we really mean tipi :) )
June 30, 2011
Price's zine The Moonlight Chronicles was always a delight. His sketches of encountered trees, buildings, motorcycles, and traffic lights were whimsical but never twee, and celebrated the artistic impulse to wander and draw. But there were always hints dropped that shadow side of the artistic nomad's life was a failure to connect, to drop roots. Here, in Radical Simplicity, Price shows he does indeed have roots, connection to place... but this is a bizarre memoir in which human relationships take a back seat to Price's relationship to the land. As a personal history of his tepees, hobbit holes, and sweat lodges, it's somewhat interesting, though there's not enough detail to make this a satisfying "how to" book. Instead, it's Price's armchair philosophy writ large, but with a larger scope that his zine, the issue of human relationships looms larger in this book, but his deft avoidance of that topic leaves bigger questions about the cost of his choices than it answers.
October 20, 2010
I am absolutely in love with this book. Dan Price is a man seeking a simpler life, building structures and researching ancient cultures. I was profoundly influenced by this book and as I brainstorm ideas for my new house design, many of Dan's concepts will leach through. Dan is creating a piece for people who desire to break away from our resource intensive culture and try a more human technique of living. I will definitely check out his moonlight chronicles and recommend this book to all people who built forts as kids and have always dreamed living off/with the land. He truly is a modern day Thoreau.
June 13, 2010
This personal account of a unique individual who rents an acre of land for $100 a year and lives on it in a variety of mini shelters he builds. Most of the book is his personal exploration of extreme simplicity. It is interesting to hear his story but I found little to take away from it into my own life.
January 27, 2022
OK... Radical simplicity is not for everyone, and I am not convinced that it is for me. I like fancy clothes and reading during my nightly baths, but the book is very interesting. It reads like a how-to meets a journal -- with the bonus of photos and sketches.
I can see how Price's decisions could be very polarizing, but you have to applaud his commitment to his heart's desire.
I can see how Price's decisions could be very polarizing, but you have to applaud his commitment to his heart's desire.
October 6, 2024
It’s been a long time since I was this conflicted about a book. This is a work of sui generis, combining drawings, diagrams, and hand written text with type. It is part how-to manual for fort building, part self-help guidebook, and part autobiography. It offers a sprinkling of all of these genres, but not enough of any to cohere.
Dan’s love of simple structures, fort-building, and simple living are infectious. His childlike awe and wonder, joy and enthusiasm are palpable and inspiring. Indeed, his best musings took me back to the best parts of my own childhood, solitary escapes into small stands of woods, “painting� lilac bushes with mud, playing hide and seek with squirrels, building snow tunnels and tree forts. Those were the days! Children do not judge their experience; they just have it. At its best, Dan’s writing and way of life remind us to do the same.
On the other hand, children run away from things that frighten them, instead of facing them. Children live lives free of responsibility and cares (albeit increasingly less so, in present-day sick, dysfunctional Western society�). Children construct fantasies to avoid unpleasant realities. When the reality that surrounds them is unpleasant, they withdraw from it rather than try to change it. Some forms of mental illness have this in common with childhood. The revered innocence of childhood is predicated on not seeing the big picture.
These are not necessarily bad or good things; they just are.
I’m glad I read this book because I’ve read other articles about Dan, and seen a few mini-documentaries. They all left me with more questions than answers. I suspected that some of these were laudatory puff pieces that idealized Dan’s way of life and in the process fail to understand it. In some ways, I have even more questions after reading Radical Simplicity, but I also have a slightly better understanding of its author, which was what I was hoping for above all.
I read the other reviews of Radical Simplicity. Many of the negative ones are mean-spirited, cynical, and crass. When an author is arrogant, stupid, or deceptive reviewers should give them no quarter, but I did not feel that Dan was any of those things in Radical Simplicity. I hate it when people use disability or grievance as the sole basis of credibility, but I also think discrimination is despicable. When reviewers dismiss Dan and his lifestyle as, “yeah, he’s probably on the spectrum,� a wave of anger washes over me. So, what if he is “on the spectrum� and what if that contributed to his worldview, lifestyle, values, or beliefs?
In my view, that would make his life that much more meaningful. But what the reviewer intended to convey nothing more than a below-the-belt cheap shot, not an attempt to understand him, and not a legitimate critique. Or the dick that called him a misogynist because Dan made a comment about men who live alone not having a “honey-do list.� Seriously, folks? Are you really that stupid? People have really lost sight of what words mean in their efforts to ascribe the worst possible motives to the objects of their scorn, i.e. anyone who disagrees with them on even the most trivial matters. Ironically, some of Dan’s detractors go further in legitimizing Dan’s desire to drop out of society more than Dan’s own writing.
That said, some of Dan’s turns of phrase and ideas will seem a bit dated and anachronistic, especially to ultra-sensitive modern readers (i.e. “snowflakes�) whose list of taboos, peccadilloes and thou-shalt-nots are probably far longer than any of the books they read—that is to say, for the ones who read at all or have some degree of functional literacy.
If Radical Simplicity was submitted for publication today, it wouldn’t make it past the “sensitivity readers,� thought police, and other censors before being consigned to the naughty room for all eternity. Throughout the book, Dan takes wide-eyed inspiration from his interpretations of Native American traditions. No one would dare do that today, lest they end up open to attack for the grave sin of “cultural appropriation,� certainly not without a long, groveling land acknowledgement.
What a relief it is to read books penned in the innocent era before people were too terrified to speak their minds on any topic. I would argue that these idiosyncrasies comprise style and voice. These are the traits that mark us as being members of our generation. I do hope future generations will be as merciless with the current one as it has been toward its own elders. Time will not be kind to them. They deserve every humiliation that the passage of years will heap upon them and their absurd, inscrutable Orwellian lexicon.
But as usual, I digress�
The author is at his best in Radical Simplicity when discussing his projects, how he conceives them and clarifies his thoughts in the “Old Man� (his sauna, which I can totally relate to, as my best ideas come to me in the shower), and when describing his mistakes as well as successes. Here, he feels safe enough to be honest with himself and his readers. His joy over finding the right materials and fitting them together, his experience of being in the moment, lost and absorbed in the flow of life, his obsession for creating the perfect living space all offer much to be inspired by and learn from. Like most people, Dan “teaches� best by not teaching, by simply being himself, doing what he loves, and sharing the whole of it with his readers, warts and all.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the book Dan gives in to the temptation to lecture, and his lists of instructions are grating, condescending and pedantic. There is also nothing revelatory in them. This is the same stuff you’ll find in every hippie guide book on right living. I found Dan’s aversion to food and cooking almost pathological, and his suggestions impractical at best. Like so many other would-be gurus, Dan presents his ideas in a manner that suggests his way is THE way, without understanding—in print at least—that there are many legitimate ways to live a simple, good life, and some of those ways may look a bit different than his own preferences and choices. My ultimate respect is reserved for those who are self-actualized enough to know their true place in the universe, and think and act humbly in accordance with that knowledge. Dan certainly is NOT one of those rare people, but he is still a gem, with much to teach and much worth listening to.
When discussing the flaws of this book or mistakes Dan has made, it is very important to keep in mind that he is someone who is trying to live a life in harmony with all that surrounds him. Should we judge him for not entirely succeeding all the time, or rather should we ask why more people have not even tried to live well with the land? This is especially true of Dan’s art. Speaking from experience, I can attest to how hard it is to integrate type with hand-written text and images. Even when skillfully done, it doesn’t always work and it is very hard to know how the book will turn out until it’s been printed.
Should we fault him for that, or instead admire the vision, sophistication, heart and soul that goes into everything Dan creates? Normally, this would be a pretentious-sounding cliché, but in Dan’s case it is the truth: his life is his art. Long before Wabi Sabi was trendy, long before Hygge started being discussed by rich folks in lifestyle magazines, and before “shabby chic� made its way from California culture to the rest of us, Dan had his life and he was putting these ethos into actual practice. What other people talk about over Starbucks lattes, Dan actually DOES.
Despite a bit of pontification towards the end, Dan is not preachy about his lifestyle. Much as I admire Daniel Suelo and his principles (discussed in The Man Who Quit Money, a great book by Mark Sundeen), I love the fact that Dan is free from abstraction, and what rules and principles his abides by are simple, flexible, straight forward, organic and—for the most part—not dogmatic. Dan is a pragmatist. His principles are not a purity test for worthiness; they are simply what he has found works for him. His efforts also bring to mind the architectural philosophy and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. But while Wright thought big and wanted to change the world, he merely became a famous, interesting historical footnote, an Oz-like builder, a utopian who his supporters wished to emulate but never could. Dan meanwhile, revolutionized his own life. The breadth of his influence is far smaller than Wright's, but arguably Dan’s impact is greater for its relatability and his humanity.
Unlike so many books and blogs that polish their images and present their homes and spaces only as an idealized, finished product, Dan allows us to see his entire creative process unfold, which is such a gift and so much more interesting than if we were simply shown Dan in his hobbit house and that was the end of it. He did all this in the era before hashtags, before total self-absorption and narcissism became the American shortcut to godhood, before people were trained to market themselves, before affiliate links, before selling became an end unto itself, and before the degradation of pimping one's prosaic life for hearts, claps or pennies became a legitimate career choice.
Real life is not lived on the last page of one’s story. It is so rare to encounter someone who isn't trying to sell something, manipulate you, exploit you (or force it on you).
Real life is fraught, messy, beset with unexpected challenges, unplanned interactions, and spontaneous discoveries. This is also the source of our greatest joys and most meaningful moments. Dan reacquaints us with this process in a way that few other people writing about alternative lifestyles are willing to do. It doesn’t really matter how Dan’s lifestyle experiment began or how it will end. What matters is that he opened a door for people to imagine possibilities for their lives and homes that transcend merely living in boxes that were not designed by us or for us, spaces that do not exist nurture our humanity, but merely to maximize efficiency and divorce us from the land.
The other fascinating aspect of this beautiful, flawed book, is Dan’s explication of his push/pull relationship and tension between himself, his wife and kids over the particulars of his lifestyle choice. His ambivalence about his choices is apparent throughout the book, yet true to his childlike nature, he foists responsibility onto them for not joining him in the tipi, rather than owning the fact that he left them and not the other way around.
The context makes clear (contrary to what some mean-spirited reviewers have said) that he did not “abandon� his family. If anything, he seems desperate to have them share his dreams and in agony when they don’t. It’s also clear that he stayed in close contact with them throughout his kids� childhoods, enlisting his families� aid in creating his beautiful spaces, no doubt enriching all their lives in the process.
But something is missing. He seems unable to admit to a connection between his choices and their consequences. Also missing is Lynne and his kids� voices, their perspectives. Their presence weighs heavily on the text, yet they remain spectral and incorporeal. I would love to hear their take on all this, but I imagine that there are some painful, very personal conflicts at the root of some of Dan’s wanderings. In a weird way, he reminds me of both of my uncles, both extremely different people, but each a drop out in his own way, and both brilliant people on permanent vacation from reality as a means to cope with an unpleasant, unacceptable world that would have otherwise overwhelmed them. I share that same quality.
Also missing is the acknowledgement of interconnectivity. In the puff pieces I read about his life and the videos I watched, you would have every impression that Dan is a hermit, misanthrope, and an ascetic. Not only does Radical Simplicity dispense with these mistaken impressions, they make it apparent that Dan is no drop out. Indeed, his unusual existence depends on the grace, generosity and consent of everyone in his life from the mayor of his town to his landlord, family and community. He could not live his freegan lifestyle without lucrative sponsorships, donations, and even then he is required to work from time to time, albeit far less than most of us. In lieu of this, can one accurately call Dan free and independent? Certainly not, but there is a beauty to this dependance that would be enhanced had Dan chosen to recognize and acknowledge it in his work. It brings out the best in all whom it touches.
Some of us deal with the world by retreating to a stronghold of delusion; this is the path chosen by most people. It is least imaginative, most homogenous, and populated by the one-dimensional understandings proffered by ideology. It’s an ugly place, but it’s where one is least likely to be alone. Others escape by choosing the path of fantasy, people with both the creative capacity and the will to construct an alternative world of fun and joy, a world that allows space for awe and wonder. I think Dan discovered that world in his head fully formed and he entered it as one enters a fairy portal. Such trips are not always one-way, but such is the allure of these self-spun worlds that the fairy folk need set no traps. The longer one stays in fairylands, the more difficult, constrained, and ugly the ordinary world becomes. One eventually reaches a point where they cannot return to the ordinary world even if they want to, even when the sacrifice seems too great. They no longer have the cloak of invincibility, the armor of delusion, the pedagogy, the instruction manual to survive in the barren landscape that humans have imposed in our concrete jungles and hypnotizing screens. Dan may not have begun as one of the fey folk, but he is one now.
Radical Simplicity is neither radical, nor its author simple, but it is a beautiful book as unique as its creator, who may not be a guru with a guidebook, but who is, none the less, a master in the art of living well, with much to teach us simply by being himself.
Dan’s love of simple structures, fort-building, and simple living are infectious. His childlike awe and wonder, joy and enthusiasm are palpable and inspiring. Indeed, his best musings took me back to the best parts of my own childhood, solitary escapes into small stands of woods, “painting� lilac bushes with mud, playing hide and seek with squirrels, building snow tunnels and tree forts. Those were the days! Children do not judge their experience; they just have it. At its best, Dan’s writing and way of life remind us to do the same.
On the other hand, children run away from things that frighten them, instead of facing them. Children live lives free of responsibility and cares (albeit increasingly less so, in present-day sick, dysfunctional Western society�). Children construct fantasies to avoid unpleasant realities. When the reality that surrounds them is unpleasant, they withdraw from it rather than try to change it. Some forms of mental illness have this in common with childhood. The revered innocence of childhood is predicated on not seeing the big picture.
These are not necessarily bad or good things; they just are.
I’m glad I read this book because I’ve read other articles about Dan, and seen a few mini-documentaries. They all left me with more questions than answers. I suspected that some of these were laudatory puff pieces that idealized Dan’s way of life and in the process fail to understand it. In some ways, I have even more questions after reading Radical Simplicity, but I also have a slightly better understanding of its author, which was what I was hoping for above all.
I read the other reviews of Radical Simplicity. Many of the negative ones are mean-spirited, cynical, and crass. When an author is arrogant, stupid, or deceptive reviewers should give them no quarter, but I did not feel that Dan was any of those things in Radical Simplicity. I hate it when people use disability or grievance as the sole basis of credibility, but I also think discrimination is despicable. When reviewers dismiss Dan and his lifestyle as, “yeah, he’s probably on the spectrum,� a wave of anger washes over me. So, what if he is “on the spectrum� and what if that contributed to his worldview, lifestyle, values, or beliefs?
In my view, that would make his life that much more meaningful. But what the reviewer intended to convey nothing more than a below-the-belt cheap shot, not an attempt to understand him, and not a legitimate critique. Or the dick that called him a misogynist because Dan made a comment about men who live alone not having a “honey-do list.� Seriously, folks? Are you really that stupid? People have really lost sight of what words mean in their efforts to ascribe the worst possible motives to the objects of their scorn, i.e. anyone who disagrees with them on even the most trivial matters. Ironically, some of Dan’s detractors go further in legitimizing Dan’s desire to drop out of society more than Dan’s own writing.
That said, some of Dan’s turns of phrase and ideas will seem a bit dated and anachronistic, especially to ultra-sensitive modern readers (i.e. “snowflakes�) whose list of taboos, peccadilloes and thou-shalt-nots are probably far longer than any of the books they read—that is to say, for the ones who read at all or have some degree of functional literacy.
If Radical Simplicity was submitted for publication today, it wouldn’t make it past the “sensitivity readers,� thought police, and other censors before being consigned to the naughty room for all eternity. Throughout the book, Dan takes wide-eyed inspiration from his interpretations of Native American traditions. No one would dare do that today, lest they end up open to attack for the grave sin of “cultural appropriation,� certainly not without a long, groveling land acknowledgement.
What a relief it is to read books penned in the innocent era before people were too terrified to speak their minds on any topic. I would argue that these idiosyncrasies comprise style and voice. These are the traits that mark us as being members of our generation. I do hope future generations will be as merciless with the current one as it has been toward its own elders. Time will not be kind to them. They deserve every humiliation that the passage of years will heap upon them and their absurd, inscrutable Orwellian lexicon.
But as usual, I digress�
The author is at his best in Radical Simplicity when discussing his projects, how he conceives them and clarifies his thoughts in the “Old Man� (his sauna, which I can totally relate to, as my best ideas come to me in the shower), and when describing his mistakes as well as successes. Here, he feels safe enough to be honest with himself and his readers. His joy over finding the right materials and fitting them together, his experience of being in the moment, lost and absorbed in the flow of life, his obsession for creating the perfect living space all offer much to be inspired by and learn from. Like most people, Dan “teaches� best by not teaching, by simply being himself, doing what he loves, and sharing the whole of it with his readers, warts and all.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the book Dan gives in to the temptation to lecture, and his lists of instructions are grating, condescending and pedantic. There is also nothing revelatory in them. This is the same stuff you’ll find in every hippie guide book on right living. I found Dan’s aversion to food and cooking almost pathological, and his suggestions impractical at best. Like so many other would-be gurus, Dan presents his ideas in a manner that suggests his way is THE way, without understanding—in print at least—that there are many legitimate ways to live a simple, good life, and some of those ways may look a bit different than his own preferences and choices. My ultimate respect is reserved for those who are self-actualized enough to know their true place in the universe, and think and act humbly in accordance with that knowledge. Dan certainly is NOT one of those rare people, but he is still a gem, with much to teach and much worth listening to.
When discussing the flaws of this book or mistakes Dan has made, it is very important to keep in mind that he is someone who is trying to live a life in harmony with all that surrounds him. Should we judge him for not entirely succeeding all the time, or rather should we ask why more people have not even tried to live well with the land? This is especially true of Dan’s art. Speaking from experience, I can attest to how hard it is to integrate type with hand-written text and images. Even when skillfully done, it doesn’t always work and it is very hard to know how the book will turn out until it’s been printed.
Should we fault him for that, or instead admire the vision, sophistication, heart and soul that goes into everything Dan creates? Normally, this would be a pretentious-sounding cliché, but in Dan’s case it is the truth: his life is his art. Long before Wabi Sabi was trendy, long before Hygge started being discussed by rich folks in lifestyle magazines, and before “shabby chic� made its way from California culture to the rest of us, Dan had his life and he was putting these ethos into actual practice. What other people talk about over Starbucks lattes, Dan actually DOES.
Despite a bit of pontification towards the end, Dan is not preachy about his lifestyle. Much as I admire Daniel Suelo and his principles (discussed in The Man Who Quit Money, a great book by Mark Sundeen), I love the fact that Dan is free from abstraction, and what rules and principles his abides by are simple, flexible, straight forward, organic and—for the most part—not dogmatic. Dan is a pragmatist. His principles are not a purity test for worthiness; they are simply what he has found works for him. His efforts also bring to mind the architectural philosophy and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. But while Wright thought big and wanted to change the world, he merely became a famous, interesting historical footnote, an Oz-like builder, a utopian who his supporters wished to emulate but never could. Dan meanwhile, revolutionized his own life. The breadth of his influence is far smaller than Wright's, but arguably Dan’s impact is greater for its relatability and his humanity.
Unlike so many books and blogs that polish their images and present their homes and spaces only as an idealized, finished product, Dan allows us to see his entire creative process unfold, which is such a gift and so much more interesting than if we were simply shown Dan in his hobbit house and that was the end of it. He did all this in the era before hashtags, before total self-absorption and narcissism became the American shortcut to godhood, before people were trained to market themselves, before affiliate links, before selling became an end unto itself, and before the degradation of pimping one's prosaic life for hearts, claps or pennies became a legitimate career choice.
Real life is not lived on the last page of one’s story. It is so rare to encounter someone who isn't trying to sell something, manipulate you, exploit you (or force it on you).
Real life is fraught, messy, beset with unexpected challenges, unplanned interactions, and spontaneous discoveries. This is also the source of our greatest joys and most meaningful moments. Dan reacquaints us with this process in a way that few other people writing about alternative lifestyles are willing to do. It doesn’t really matter how Dan’s lifestyle experiment began or how it will end. What matters is that he opened a door for people to imagine possibilities for their lives and homes that transcend merely living in boxes that were not designed by us or for us, spaces that do not exist nurture our humanity, but merely to maximize efficiency and divorce us from the land.
The other fascinating aspect of this beautiful, flawed book, is Dan’s explication of his push/pull relationship and tension between himself, his wife and kids over the particulars of his lifestyle choice. His ambivalence about his choices is apparent throughout the book, yet true to his childlike nature, he foists responsibility onto them for not joining him in the tipi, rather than owning the fact that he left them and not the other way around.
The context makes clear (contrary to what some mean-spirited reviewers have said) that he did not “abandon� his family. If anything, he seems desperate to have them share his dreams and in agony when they don’t. It’s also clear that he stayed in close contact with them throughout his kids� childhoods, enlisting his families� aid in creating his beautiful spaces, no doubt enriching all their lives in the process.
But something is missing. He seems unable to admit to a connection between his choices and their consequences. Also missing is Lynne and his kids� voices, their perspectives. Their presence weighs heavily on the text, yet they remain spectral and incorporeal. I would love to hear their take on all this, but I imagine that there are some painful, very personal conflicts at the root of some of Dan’s wanderings. In a weird way, he reminds me of both of my uncles, both extremely different people, but each a drop out in his own way, and both brilliant people on permanent vacation from reality as a means to cope with an unpleasant, unacceptable world that would have otherwise overwhelmed them. I share that same quality.
Also missing is the acknowledgement of interconnectivity. In the puff pieces I read about his life and the videos I watched, you would have every impression that Dan is a hermit, misanthrope, and an ascetic. Not only does Radical Simplicity dispense with these mistaken impressions, they make it apparent that Dan is no drop out. Indeed, his unusual existence depends on the grace, generosity and consent of everyone in his life from the mayor of his town to his landlord, family and community. He could not live his freegan lifestyle without lucrative sponsorships, donations, and even then he is required to work from time to time, albeit far less than most of us. In lieu of this, can one accurately call Dan free and independent? Certainly not, but there is a beauty to this dependance that would be enhanced had Dan chosen to recognize and acknowledge it in his work. It brings out the best in all whom it touches.
Some of us deal with the world by retreating to a stronghold of delusion; this is the path chosen by most people. It is least imaginative, most homogenous, and populated by the one-dimensional understandings proffered by ideology. It’s an ugly place, but it’s where one is least likely to be alone. Others escape by choosing the path of fantasy, people with both the creative capacity and the will to construct an alternative world of fun and joy, a world that allows space for awe and wonder. I think Dan discovered that world in his head fully formed and he entered it as one enters a fairy portal. Such trips are not always one-way, but such is the allure of these self-spun worlds that the fairy folk need set no traps. The longer one stays in fairylands, the more difficult, constrained, and ugly the ordinary world becomes. One eventually reaches a point where they cannot return to the ordinary world even if they want to, even when the sacrifice seems too great. They no longer have the cloak of invincibility, the armor of delusion, the pedagogy, the instruction manual to survive in the barren landscape that humans have imposed in our concrete jungles and hypnotizing screens. Dan may not have begun as one of the fey folk, but he is one now.
Radical Simplicity is neither radical, nor its author simple, but it is a beautiful book as unique as its creator, who may not be a guru with a guidebook, but who is, none the less, a master in the art of living well, with much to teach us simply by being himself.
October 24, 2017
This was a decent entertaining book about what Dan Price has done over his life to embrace pretty radical simple living. I found his storying entertaining but would have liked to have taken more away from the book that I could apply in my own life.
September 4, 2017
A quick re-read :-)
October 22, 2019
Too radical for me, but some good ideas.
October 16, 2023
A charming little book that resonates with our desire for simplicity. 📚🌱🏡
February 8, 2012
Not outstanding. I was excited about it for the first quarter of it's length. Price begins strong with valid (though not new) questioning of "the lifestyles that society handed each of us at birth." He says that "important new discoveries are waiting to be made" but I don't think that is what he meant—as the way of living that he extols and explores isn't at all about new discoveries (unless you mean "discovery" in the way that Columbus did).
He says that he's seeking to be a "healthy, happy, and most important, free human being." If you keep that in mind, then it isn't as irksome when you find that he isn't into living in a radically sustainable way. Unfortunately this book seems to get unfairly tossed into recommendations for people seeking "green living" (it is, in fact on a goodreads "being green" list)—probably because of the somewhat ambiguous title. He does, in fact, succeed in living an extremely simple lifestyle, but I didn't think that "radical" wouldn't involve tarring and caulking the hell out of things he builds, or burning materials that someone (someone similar to him, even!) could find useful, or accepting a job that pays him to drive all over the country (which he mildly claims was worth it because of all the "amazing experiences"!). Aren't those "amazing experiences" the same reason Mr. Plain & Ms. Normal live with enormous ecological footprints... all that stuff they buy at walmart is amazing, their television is amazing (high def!), their shampoo is amazing, their trip (and airline ride, weee) to the enormous hotel in the everglades is amazing...
Alright, I'm not actually that upset about this book or the individualistic isolation that the author chooses for himself. He lost a ton of points with me, though, with the outrightly sexist/misogynist "honey-do list" comment. I'd say the book is fun for the diagrams and ideas of how to build shelters in a rather creative manner, but rather weak in terms of describing the "authentic life" that he pretends to embrace. There is nothing authentic about behaving as though the world would be a perfectly serene Shangri-La—if only you were the only person left on it, golly.
He says that he's seeking to be a "healthy, happy, and most important, free human being." If you keep that in mind, then it isn't as irksome when you find that he isn't into living in a radically sustainable way. Unfortunately this book seems to get unfairly tossed into recommendations for people seeking "green living" (it is, in fact on a goodreads "being green" list)—probably because of the somewhat ambiguous title. He does, in fact, succeed in living an extremely simple lifestyle, but I didn't think that "radical" wouldn't involve tarring and caulking the hell out of things he builds, or burning materials that someone (someone similar to him, even!) could find useful, or accepting a job that pays him to drive all over the country (which he mildly claims was worth it because of all the "amazing experiences"!). Aren't those "amazing experiences" the same reason Mr. Plain & Ms. Normal live with enormous ecological footprints... all that stuff they buy at walmart is amazing, their television is amazing (high def!), their shampoo is amazing, their trip (and airline ride, weee) to the enormous hotel in the everglades is amazing...
Alright, I'm not actually that upset about this book or the individualistic isolation that the author chooses for himself. He lost a ton of points with me, though, with the outrightly sexist/misogynist "honey-do list" comment. I'd say the book is fun for the diagrams and ideas of how to build shelters in a rather creative manner, but rather weak in terms of describing the "authentic life" that he pretends to embrace. There is nothing authentic about behaving as though the world would be a perfectly serene Shangri-La—if only you were the only person left on it, golly.
December 18, 2016
This is the meandering life story of Dan Price, one of the better known 'personalities' of the voluntary simplicity movement/ethos. Dan takes his simplicity a little more seriously than most, and over the past 20 years has spent his time living in various simple ways, including years living out of a tent; experimenting with tipis; building his own 'hobbit hole' and underground structures of various sorts. Along the way he has continually divested himself of his possessions, finding freedom as he went.
This is not really a 'how-to' book, rather it is an extension of the journals Dan is known for, albeit a slightly more organised and 'slick' version. His journey is told in a quirky and entertaining way, and in a manner that feels truthful - he shares how sad he is that his ex-wife and children never agree to live with him in his simple style (though his ex-wife and he still have a close relationship), and he is quick to share his mistakes.
While Dan Price's way of living might be a bit too extreme for most of us (it is not one I would readily embrace) it is still inspiring for anyone who is interested in voluntary simplicity - if he can pare his life down so much, there is plenty of hope for those who want to simplify their own lives a bit less.
This is not really a 'how-to' book, rather it is an extension of the journals Dan is known for, albeit a slightly more organised and 'slick' version. His journey is told in a quirky and entertaining way, and in a manner that feels truthful - he shares how sad he is that his ex-wife and children never agree to live with him in his simple style (though his ex-wife and he still have a close relationship), and he is quick to share his mistakes.
While Dan Price's way of living might be a bit too extreme for most of us (it is not one I would readily embrace) it is still inspiring for anyone who is interested in voluntary simplicity - if he can pare his life down so much, there is plenty of hope for those who want to simplify their own lives a bit less.
May 25, 2010
I'm currently reading this book simultaneously with Thomas de Zengotita's "Mediated." It's a fascinating juxtaposition, one that I recommend to anyone who's up for a brain trip.
...
Now that I've finished it, I have to say I wasn't too impressed. The author framed his argument in terms of how he believes everyone should live -- both on and off the land, so to speak; away from the man-made and artificial, which he abhors -- rather than in terms of how he personally prefers to live. That kind of prescriptive tone turned me off. I think the book would have been much more successful as a memoir.
Still, I'm giving the book 3 stars because it contains some interesting ideas and I enjoyed hearing his perspective and seeing his illustrations. It was food for thought.
(But I'm not giving up my bed or my air conditioning.)
...
Now that I've finished it, I have to say I wasn't too impressed. The author framed his argument in terms of how he believes everyone should live -- both on and off the land, so to speak; away from the man-made and artificial, which he abhors -- rather than in terms of how he personally prefers to live. That kind of prescriptive tone turned me off. I think the book would have been much more successful as a memoir.
Still, I'm giving the book 3 stars because it contains some interesting ideas and I enjoyed hearing his perspective and seeing his illustrations. It was food for thought.
(But I'm not giving up my bed or my air conditioning.)
January 7, 2008
I had read Dan Price's zine the Moonlight Chronicals and liked the issues I had read. This book kind of fell into my lap when it arrived in my mailbox as part of a swap, so I was unaware that this guy was the same guy who traveled around America on a trike.
I love reading about do it yourself shelters and hand built homes, and I loved the drawings in this book. I also generally liked Dan's story of how he just decided to live in a tipi and rent himself 2 acres of land for a $100/year. Neat. But what I didn't like was his kinda self-righteous black & white moral tone (my life is better than yours because I leave a tiny footprint) and his frequent digs on his partner/ex-wife who didn't want to live the tipi life.
Despite the awkward prose and the soapbox, I liked this book.
I love reading about do it yourself shelters and hand built homes, and I loved the drawings in this book. I also generally liked Dan's story of how he just decided to live in a tipi and rent himself 2 acres of land for a $100/year. Neat. But what I didn't like was his kinda self-righteous black & white moral tone (my life is better than yours because I leave a tiny footprint) and his frequent digs on his partner/ex-wife who didn't want to live the tipi life.
Despite the awkward prose and the soapbox, I liked this book.
August 12, 2010
I didn't expect too much from this book once I saw all the scribbles and drawings, but I felt really good after I finished reading it. Great for someone who grew up playing in the woods, building forts, going to Russian saunas and swimming in lakes and rivers. If you did those things then it will be easier to understand that intrinsic pull of the land and nature that this writer utterly succumbs too. No great revelations within, mostly an account of his endeavors in hobbit hole building, but I still very touched when I finished it.
June 1, 2011
A guy sells everything, rents some land and builds a hobbit-hole. Bilbo on Walden Pond. I’m not mocking this book, it’s actually pretty cool. The author talks, in generalities, about how he built his numerous shelters before burrowing underground and he provides rough sketches. This is no short term experiment, it’s a lifestyle. He continue to manage living as close to nature as probably anyone can in modern America. I mean, outside of Appalachia.
If you were impressed with Thoreau spending two years in Emerson’s backyard, you’ll love this.
If you were impressed with Thoreau spending two years in Emerson’s backyard, you’ll love this.
August 23, 2008
Interesting to follow Price's journey from one form of sustainable simple living to another. Lots of photos, lots of drawings and sketches, lots of journal excerpts and quotes. Rather than giving the reader lots of tips on how to create his/her own authentic life (which is what I was expecting), this reads more like a journal of Price's own journey. There was a small section of tips at the end for advice on how to lead a greener life, which was useful but didn't really offer anything new.
February 7, 2009
This book was a little heavy on the alternative living structures which kinda got a bit tiresome but it's interesting nonetheless and I do enjoy his line drawings. I dislike the barbs he throws at his ex-wife but I do appreciate his basic tenets of living somewhere you love, living with someone you truly love and working a job you love along with a lifestyle of minimal impact and appreciation of the natural world.
January 2, 2013
Guy gives up his entire family to live in a hole in the ground that he lines with plastic. Sleeps on secondhand carpet. Wonders why his wife and kids don't want to live with him. Somehow manages to maintain a relationship throughout all of this?
The only reason this is two stars instead of one is because there are some interesting tidbits about the different structures he builds (even though he thinks it's a mighty fine idea to burn them down after he's grown tired of them...??)
The only reason this is two stars instead of one is because there are some interesting tidbits about the different structures he builds (even though he thinks it's a mighty fine idea to burn them down after he's grown tired of them...??)
August 27, 2007
It was an interesting concept; attempting to live with a minimal environmental impact by confining oneself to a teepee. The problem is that it's obviously not practical, and the book is not even interesting. The prose is difficult to get through, and his self-absorption gets annoying after a while (although I assume this is inevitable when one is completely isolated).
February 7, 2013
I liked this book. A very quick read and it included pictures of his drawings, which I found very helpful when reading the descriptions of his living spaces. While I do wonder about the longevity of living in an 8 x 10 foot underground room, I admire his passion for simple living and the will to change his life to make this living style a possibility.
May 18, 2010
Dan Price has the coolest life! You will be inspired to become more resourceful with the things around you, appreciate the little things, and understand what it means to be a "minimalist." I gave away many things after reading this book.
March 29, 2015
More a memoir than a how-to, Price talks about his experiences living in various primitive structures on a small meadow in Oregon. It's a quick and easy read with lots of pictures. It was interesting, but not particularly helpful if you are looking for a simple living how-to.
February 27, 2012
This was great, definitely another look at alternative lifestlyes than the norm. But fascinating, and inspiring if you like the idea of living simply. Although this why of living is a bit too radical for me:-).
April 22, 2013
a unique story about one man trying to live a most simple life in the woods continuously searching for ways to create peaceful underground sanctuaries (hobbit homes) with local materials. a mans story of how he discovered an authentic state of true freedom.
October 16, 2015
This was my second read of this book, and I found I enjoyed it more than the first. There was less ego, more voice and character and more reason. Perhaps I am more mature. I appreciate the experiences, explanations and musings of Price, and his longing for a simpler life deeply resonates with me.
April 14, 2008
Read it...yearn to live like a hunter/gatherer.
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