Hi, I'm Kevin Van Lierop. 👋
I am an adult learning & community development leader living in London, Canada.
About this site
This site is an unfinished archive of work. As I find the time and uncover new, old-works, I add them here. Lots of what you'll find here is messy, unfinished, and representative of former versions of myself— spelling errors and clichés included.
Take a look around— I've highlighted some of the things I am most proud of.
Contents
Biographical
Works
- Kombucha
- A Reading Habit
- hy(de)blog
- Good City Co.
- Vacant
- Little Landor Library
- Circumnavigating Lake Fanshawe
- On Appreciating the Land which Surrounds Us
- The Importance of Place
- Master of Adult Education
- My Hometown Sucks, Place, and Shared Sameness
- For Community
- What is Place but a Social Construct?
- 17 Grand Ave.
- Form & Foundry
- The Localist
- Noted Notion Co.
- Place as a Verb
- Librarians as Adult Educators
- Wednesday Night Bike Rides
- Commonwealth
- Geek Dinner Reunion
- London Walks
- Don’t Worry. [this city] is awesome
- Rochester, New York
- Visible Storage Project
- Eames: a series of graphics
- [this city]
- Authentic Experiences
- Why Block Party in a Box?
- Stefan Hacking Reads
- Block Party in a Box
- The Shadow Dance
- What is a chair?
- Official Passport
- [place:ship]
- Make a Move
- London Culture Tour: Dive Bar Edition
- What About Our Stories?
- The Path
- Parking (Ottawa, Ontario)
- Walk London
- Urban Film Nights
- The Today Card
- Mechanically Separated
- #6
- Big City Lights
- 9 Minutes
- Hamilton Road
- PARK(ing) Day
- This Once Was
- The Lot
- Biography of a Woman
- Mini Sagas
- 100 Ways
- 365 Days
- Yellow Chairs
- Liberty Village
- Raine Maida
- Paris, France
Ideas
Press & Media
- A Note on Press & Media
- Growing Prosperity Award
- Awesome Member of the Week
- Young Alumni Award
- Last Call: Perspective from an Urban Explorer
- Unofficial Signs Take First Steps
- The Fourth Wall
- How to Work 40 Hours a Week and Not Get Paid a Damn Cent OR How to Stay Sane
- Reimaginging Participation
- Justice: Signs of Change
Reads
- Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (2019) ⭐️⭐️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times(1972) ⭐️- Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond Productivity Culture (2024)
- Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996) ⭐️⭐️️⭐️️️️⭐️️️
On Being Me: A Personal Invitation to Philosophy(2020) ⭐️⭐Kayak Morning: Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats(2012) ⭐️- On the Road (1957) ⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink (2015) ⭐⭐️️️
- Everyday Utopia (2023) ⭐⭐
The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less While Enjoying Everything More(2017) ⭐️- Normal People (2018) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️️
- The Sentimentalists (2009) ⭐
- Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2007) ⭐️⭐️
- I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage (2007) ⭐⭐
- Life Is Like Canadian Football and Other Authentic Folk Songs (2021) (in progress)
- Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (2012) ⭐️️️⭐️️️⭐️️️⭐️️️⭐️️️
- Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age (2020) ⭐⭐
The Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice(2007) ⭐️️️️Talking to Canadians(2021) ⭐️️- Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things (2010) ⭐️️️️
- A Reading Diary: A Year of Favourite Books (2004) ⭐️️⭐️️
- How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization (2004) ⭐️️⭐️️
- Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less (2023) ⭐️️️
- Literature Unbound (1984) ⭐️️️
- Quit: the power of knowing when to walk away (2022) ⭐️️️⭐️️️
- Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness (2016) ⭐⭐
- Indian Horse: a novel (2012) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us (2022)
- Addicted: Notes from the Belly of the Beast (2001)
- Reading to Heal: How to Use Bibliotherapy to Improve Your Life (1999)
- I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) (2007)
- The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television (2009)
- Things That Matter (2022)
- This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life (2015)
- Essential Labour: Mothering as Social Change (2022) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes (2013)
- Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (2017)
- The Complete Essex County (2009)
- The Day the World Came to Town (2002) ⭐️
- Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion (2011)
- A Promised Land (2020) ⭐️️⭐️️
- Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (2021) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Atomic Habits (2018)
- Becoming (2018) ⭐️⭐️
- The Library at Night (2007)
The Stand(1978)- Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive (2019)
- Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader (1998)
- Year Book (2021)
- Greenlights (2020) ⭐️
- The Midnight Library (2020) ⭐️
- Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times (2020)
- Parable of the Sower (1993) ⭐️
- The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America (2017)
- The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door (2012)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants(2013)- The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters (2018) ♻️
- Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (2016)
- So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love (2012) ⭐ ♻️
- Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (2010) ♻️
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (2011) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- A Week at the Airport (2009)
- The God Delusion (2006)
- From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way (2020)
- The Happiness Hypothesis (2006)
- The Inconvenient Indian A Curious Account of Native People in North America (2012) ⭐️
- Outskirts Women Writing from Small Places (2002)
- How to Do Nothing (2020) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- A World Without Email Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload (2021) ⭐️
- Seedfolks (1997)
- Herland (1915)
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading (2019) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Art of Reading (2016)
- Remarkable Reads: 34 Writers and Their Adventures in Reading (2004)
- Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance (2018)
- Bibliotherapy: The Right Book at the Right Time (1980)
- How to Read a Book (1972) ⭐️
- The Elsewhere Community (1998)
A Walker in the City(1951)- Radio Free Vermont (2017)
- Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World⭐ (2016) ⭐
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (2011) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- How To Be An Antiracist (2019) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Badluck Way A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West (2013)
- Voices from the Rust Belt (2018)
- Walking Home: A Poet’s Journey (2012)
- Huron & Erie Regional Digest: Summer (2020)
- The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class-and What We Can Do About It (2017)
- Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (2018)
- Trudeau: The Education of a Prime Minister (2019)
- Brother (2017)
- City Quitters: An Exploration of Post-Urban Life (2018)
- Grit (2016)
- So You Want to Talk About Race (2018) ⭐⭐⭐
- From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way (2019)
- They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up (2020)
- Deeds/Abstracts: The History of a London Lot, 1 January 1991 - 6 October 1992 (1995) ♻️
- Ten Cities: The Past Is Present (2019)
- Huron & Erie Regional Digest: Spring (2020)
- Columbine (2009)
- A Good Neighborhood (2020) ⭐️️
- Deschooling Society (1971)
- A Grief Observed (1961)
- Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life (2012)
- They Won’t Demolish Me! (1973)
- When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (2018)
- Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know (2019)
- Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America (2018) ⭐️
- The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods (2010)
- The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) ⭐
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (2019)
- Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (2003)
- Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (1995)
- Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times (2014) ♻️
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (2018) ⭐⭐⭐
- Stuff Matters Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World (2013)
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016) ⭐️
- Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life (2018)
- Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (2019) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (2011) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- A History of Reading (1996) ⭐️
- Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (2015)
- Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (2018)
- Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World (2017)
- The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit (2017)
- The Saturday Night Ghost Club (2018) ⭐
- Handbook for the Positive Revolution (1991)
- Drinking in America Our Secret History (2015)
- Book Ends: A Year Between the Covers (2010)
- Who Needs Books?: Reading in the Digital Age (2016)
- The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age (1994) ⭐
- Anne of Green Gables (1908)
- Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work (2009) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- Letters from a Stoic (4 BC-AD 65) ⭐️
- Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (1999) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Paperback⭐️ (2012)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)
- Tuesdays with Morrie (1997)
- How Will You Measure Your Life? (2012)
- Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. (2018)
- Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (2016)
- The Marrow Thieves (2017)
- Experience and Education (1938)
- Utopia (1516) ♻️
- Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth (2018)
- Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
- Fifty Days of Solitude (1994)
- Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World (2017) ⭐
- Commonwealth (2016)
- Station Eleven (2014)
- The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters (2018)
- Educated (2018) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Your Money or Your Life (1992)
- The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert (1999)
- Ragged Company (2008)
- Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design (2012) ♻️
- Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution (2015)
- On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft (2000)
- Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone (2017)
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999)
- People Space: The Making and Breaking of Human Boundaries (1976)
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (2011) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- 10% Happier (2014)
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (2011) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places (2014)
- Detroit: An American Autopsy (2013)
- The Production of Space (1991)
- Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994)
- Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968)
- Masters of their own destiny: the story of adult education through economic cooperation of the Antigonish movement (1939)
- Keep Your Love On: Connection Communication And Boundaries (2013)
- The Holy Bible (nd) ♻️
- Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change⭐ (1990) ⭐
- Reasons to Stay Alive (2015) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier, Happier, and Smarter (2021)
- The Widow (2016)
- Man’s Search for Meaning (1959) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Wealthy Renter: How to Choose Housing That Will Make You Rich (2016)
- Jane Jacobs: Urban Visionary (2006)
- Etta and Otto and Russell and James (2015)
- The Servant as Leader (1991) ⭐⭐⭐
- For the Love of Cities (2011)
- An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture (2016)
- Empowering Education: Critical Teaching for Social Change (1992)
- Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty (1996)
- Living Walden Two: B. F. Skinner’s Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities (2005)
- Voluntary Simplicity (rev): Toward A Way Of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (1981)
- The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life (2014)
- Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do (2016)
- Design for Real Life (2016)
- Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days (2016)
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Paperback⭐️ (2012)
- What Color Is Your Parachute? 2015: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers (1970)
- Leap: Leaving a Job with No Plan B to Find the Career and Life You Really Want (2015)
- Rework (2010)
- Remote: Office Not Required (2013)
- Let the Elephants Run (2014)
- The Martian (2011)
- Leadership: For Active Creative Engaged Communities (2012) ♻️
- Into the Wild (1996) ⭐️ ♻️
- Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012)
- The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations (2004)
- Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008)
- Better Together: Restoring the American Community (2003)
- Walden Two (1948)
- Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs (2016)
- In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist (2012)
- Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2011)
- Walden and Civil Disobedience (1854) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♻️
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (2011) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Lonely: Learning to Live with Solitude (2010) ⭐️
- Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design (2012)
- Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times (2014)
- Animal Farm (1945)
- The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (2003) ⭐ ♻️
- Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder (2011)
- Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier (2011)
- Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Art of Wandering: The Writer as Walker (2012)
- Everything I Know (2013)
- This Could Help (2014)
- Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work (2009) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future (2012)
- Making Good: Finding Meaning Money And Community In A Changing World (2012)
- Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (2012)
- Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love (1993)
- Leadership: For Active Creative Engaged Communities (2012)
- Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places (2009)
- Untitled: Thoughts on the Creative Process (2012)
- Coffee Shop Contemplations (2013)
You Can’t Go Home Again(1940)- The Location Scout (2009)
- The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want (2012)
- The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (1989)
- Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (2004)
- The Image of the City (1960)
- Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook (2011)
- Living in the Sprawl: Ideas for a suburbia that gets better with age (2012)
- The Social Life Of Small Urban Spaces (1980) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Urban Nation (2008)
- Local Motion: The Art of Civic Engagement in Toronto (2006)
- My brother Greg: A memoir (2001)
- Deeds/Abstracts: The History of a London Lot (1995)
On the Road(1957)- Nine Things Successful People Do Differently
- Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (2011)
- Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000) ⭐️
- enough (2012)
- The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (2003) ⭐ ♻️
- Turning Pro (2012)
- It Will Be Exhilarating (2012)
- Utopia (1516)
- The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul (2010)
- Read This Before Our Next Meeting (2011) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Flinch (2011)
- Do the Work (2011)
- The Leader Who Had No Title️ (2010) ⭐
- The Holy Bible (nd)
- Tales of the Revolution: True Stories of People who are Poking the Box and Making a Difference (2011)
- Excursions (1863)
- Civil Disobedience (1849)
- Keeping It Straight (2011)
- Into the Wild (1996) ⭐️
- Self-Reliance (1844) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Think and Grow Rich (1937)
- focus: A Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction (2010)
- Walden and Civil Disobedience (1854) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition (1992)
- The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know (2010)
- Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality (2012)
- Poke the Box (2011)
- Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas (2011)
- Community Conversations: Mobilizing the Ideas, Skills, and Passion of Community Organizations, Governments, Businesses, and People (2008)
- Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life (2013)
- At Last There Is Nothing Left To Say (2000) ⭐️⭐️⭐️