Ian Reilly — Encounter: A Journey into Chaos, Culture and Compassion
Memoir / Testimony
Ian Reilly is an Australian author, artist, innovator and entrepreneur whose life has spanned classrooms and boardrooms, from the Silicon Valley to remote Pacific villages. Ian writes for people drawn to big questions and open to new ideas, and readers searching for depth, courage and authenticity. Encounter is his powerful true story of cultural collision and personal transformation — a book for anyone hungry for a gripping story, for meaning and purpose, authentic experience, or those who have crossed borders to feel lost, overwhelmed and out of place. Growing up on a small Australian sheep farm, Ian studied engineering and commenced working for the Australian Army. In 1990 Ian and his wife Heather left the comfort of suburban Australia to teach in Samoa, where they were immediately struck by a devastating cyclone. Emerging without power, water and running out of food, they stepped into disorienting cultural collision, ethical dilemmas, and physical hardship. Immersing themselves into a radically different culture challenged their assumptions about poverty, power, privilege, and justice while teaching them valuable life lessons. As a global innovator, Ian used his Samoan cross cultural experience to lead large multinational, cross-functional teams to design highly innovative, world-first products for clients in the US, Europe and Japan. In 2014 Ian founded the agri-tech startup Agersens that created eShepherd - the world’s first virtual fence for livestock. Exiting Agersens in 2021, Ian retired from paid work and focused on writing, painting, speaking and mentoring others.
🏆 NYC Big Book Award 2026 — Christian Nonfiction & Multicultural Nonfiction
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