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Mark Sundeen

The Man Who Quit Money Paperback – March 6, 2012

by Mark Sundeen (Author)

4.2 403 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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Grand Prize Winner of the 2015 Green Book Festival

Mark Sundeen's new book, The Unsettlers, is coming in January 2017 from Riverhead Books

In 2000, Daniel Suelo left his life savings-all thirty dollars of it-in a phone booth. He has lived without money-and with a newfound sense of freedom and security-ever since. The Man Who Quit Money is an account of how one man learned to live, sanely and happily, without earning, receiving, or spending a single cent. Suelo doesn't pay taxes, or accept food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyonlands, forages wild foods and gourmet discards. He no longer even carries an I.D. Yet he manages to amply fulfill not only the basic human needs-for shelter, food, and warmth-but, to an enviable degree, the universal desires for companionship, purpose, and spiritual engagement. In retracing the surprising path and guiding philosophy that led Suelo into this way of life, Sundeen raises provocative and riveting questions about the decisions we all make, by default or by design, about how we live-and how we might live better.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Riverhead Books
Publication date

March 6, 2012
Dimensions

5.45 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
ISBN-10

1594485690
ISBN-13

978-1594485695
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a beautiful, thoughtful and wonderful book. I suspect I may find myself thinking about it every day for the rest of my life." - Elizabeth Gilbert

"Mark Sundeen's astonishing and unsettling book goes directly to the largest questions about how we live and what we have lost in a culture obsessed with money. Sundeen tells the story of a gentle and generous man who sought the good life by deciding to live without it. What's most unsettling and astonishing is that he appears to have succeeded." - William Greider

"Maybe it's just this odd, precarious moment we live in, but Daniel Suelo's story seems to offer some broader clues for all of us. Mark Sundeen's account will raise subversive and interesting questions in any open mind." - Bill McKibben

“Suelo isn’t a conflicted zealot, or even a principled aesthete. He’s a contented man who chooses to wander the Earth and do good. He’s also someone you’d want to have a beer with and hear about his life, as full of fortune and enlightenment as it is disappointment and darkness… At its core, The Man Who Quit Money is the story of a man who decided to live outside of society, and is happier for it.” –Men’s Journal

“Sundeen deftly portrays [Suelo] as a likeable, oddly sage guy… who finds happiness in radical simplicity [and] personifies a critique that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt remorse on the treadmill of getting and spending." –Outside Magazine

“Captivating… Suelo emerges as a remarkable and complex character… Sundeen brings his subject vividly to life [and] makes a case for Suelo's relevance to our time.” –The Seattle Times

“Exquisitely timed… The Man Who Quit Money is a slim, quick read that belies the weightiness underneath. The very quality that makes us see a “man walking in America” (Suelo’s words) and be simultaneously attracted and repelled is exposed here in beautiful detail.” –The Missoula Independent

“In America, renunciation breaks the rules, but, as everyone evicted from Zuccotti Park or bludgeoned at Berkeley or just steamed in-between knows, the rules require breaking. Sundeen… sets out to understand the process and logic behind a money-free lifestyle while tracing the spiritual, psychological, physical, and philosophical quest that led this particular man to throw over our society’s arguably counterfeit-yet-prevailing faith in money, or, more precisely, in debt.” –The Rumpus

“A fascinating subject… both resonant as a character study and infinitely thought-provoking in its challenge to all our preconceptions about modern life—and about the small and large hypocrisies people of all philosophies and religious paths assume they need to accept.” –The Salt Lake City Weekly

“Thoughtful and engrossing biography that also explores society’s fixation with financial and material rewards...Although few readers will even consider emulating Suelo’s scavenger lifestyle, his example will at least provoke some serious soul-searching about our collective addiction to cash.” –Booklist

About the Author

Mark Sundeen is an award-winning writer whose nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, and The Believer. He is the author of Car Camping (HarperCollins, 2000) and The Making of Toro (Simon & Schuster, 2003), and co-author of North by Northwestern (St. Martin's, 2010), which was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He has taught fiction and nonfiction in the MFA programs at the University of New Mexico and Western Connecticut State University. He lives in Montana and Utah.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books; 1st edition (March 6, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594485690
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594485695
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #448,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #466 in Nature Writing & Essays
- #1,191 in Budgeting & Money Management (Books)
- #1,903 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.2 403 ratings

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Mark Sundeen

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Mark Sundeen is the author of The Unsettlers and The Man Who Quit Money, both published by Riverhead/Penguin. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, the Believer, and elsewhere. His previous books are Car Camping (HarperCollins, 2000), The Making of Toro (Simon & Schuster, 2003), and North By Northwestern (St. Martin's, 2010, co-written with Sig Hansen), which was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He has taught fiction and nonfiction at the MFA creative writing programs at the University of New Mexico and Southern New Hampshire University, as well as the Taos Summer Writers' Conference. He lives in Montana and Utah. Learn more at www.marksundeen.com and www.quitmoney.net.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

403 global ratings

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T. Sparks

Outlook on Life Forever Changed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 11, 2023

Verified Purchase

I bought this book a few weeks before setting out to backpack/tramp the USA, and after reading it, my outlook on life and any dependency on money is forever changed. It was beautifully written, tied together so much of Daniel’s philosophy and life circumstances, but also narrated his struggle and suffering eloquently, without sugar-coating the journey. My heart is more open and my mind is expanded because of what was in this book..

My favorite passages:

“Now, my hardships are simple and immediate: food, shelter, and clothing. They’re manageable because they’re in the present.”

“Anything motivated by money is tainted, containing the seeds of destruction. That’s the struggle—guess that’s why Van Gogh couldn’t sell his paintings—they had to be pure. There is no honest profession—that’s the paradox. Prostitution, the oldest profession is the most honest, for it exposes the bare bones of what civilization is all about. It’s the root of all professions.”

Thank you, Daniel, for showing me what is possible in this life. Your ability to eliminate the culture of money is something we could all, just at a minimum, strive for.

Blessings,
Trevor

Helpful

Louis Mauriello

Don't get bogged down in the title

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

First off, this is not a survivalist book or story. It is the life story of one man and his experiences told through the eyes and experiences of the author, other people the author interviewed and from the writings of the subject himself.

It starts with him living without money but almost immediately becomes a tale of how he got to that point in his life - his mental thoughts and travels and various attempts to become one who can live moneyless.

Although he himself quits money his entire story is one of a person living off of the largess of money and what it can and does buy - basically the excess of capitalism, without which he would not have been able to do what he has.

Keep in mind that this is not a "formula to" book. The reality is his story is one of lifestyle choice. One can chose to live a life of less income or pursue one of more income. The reality is the lifestyle(s) that go with those varying degrees of income are the output, some may say consequences, of those choices.

Towards the end the author gets into the typical platitudes that predict things like peak oil and the downfall of the American capitalistic system, citing specific occurrences that never resulted in the social impact the author predicts.

As for the writing I found it moved the story along - in the beginning slowly, the main part of the book at a nice pace, with the ending slowed down again. The author did a good job keeping things interesting but quite often I felt like he was either overdramatizing the incidents or relating stories that the subject presented without questioning their authenticity or degree of reality (especially the religious moments).

20 people found this helpful

Helpful

Timothy Eugene Fredrick

The Man Who Lives abundantly

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 26, 2012

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In the spirit of full disclosure, I am privileged to be one of Daniel's friends, going back decades to our college years. I visited Daniel in Ecuador 3 times, and am one, like Damian (who also wrote an Amazon review), who is personally familiar with and involved with many of the stories that highlight Daniel's journey.

As Mark Sundeen points out in this biography, my own life on the surface is dramatically different than Daniel's. I live in the suburbs, and have worked toward goals which, like my cookie cutter suburban house, match the goals of my neighbors and upper-middle-class colleagues.

I think most large "goals" are never met without compromise - that is, compromise of one's values in order to meet them. I financed my suburban home when it was built, taking a loan knowing I would be in debt for decades. And the loan ended up being with a bank that was well known for its predatory loan practices. The toxic debt completely sank the much larger bank that acquired it during the financial meltdown.

My values? Live within my means. Own a home. Avoid debt. Stick humbly by my Christian beliefs. Don't support exploitive companies. Value life over money. Live simply. Enjoy the latest Apple gadget. Drive a nice car. Save the Earth's environment. Give freely. Get a good interest rate. Conflict, Conflict, Conflict...

The author, Mark Sundeen, can also be seen as a minor character in the book through his first person narrative voice. I'm glad, because he humbly admits that he's like the rest of us. I can identify with Mark. While money isn't his primary value, he still gets a kind of pleasure out of reading his social security statement and understanding that his writing career has moved him into a "comfort zone", away from the humble poverty of a restaurant cook in Moab. He's a writer, so he's not swimming in wealth, but he confesses to enjoying getting that government statement.

The thing is, Daniel's keenly focused goals are much more driven by his values. Perhaps this is true of all of the respected influential people in our lives. Perhaps this is true of the great and good figures of history we admire. These good people embrace their values with a kind of seriousness few of us ever achieve. Mark Sundeen writes about events in Daniel's life that have sculpted those values. As with his book, "North by Northwestern", Mark includes family and community as sculpting forces. Moab, Utah, can be seen as a character in this book too, alongside Daniel's parents and friends. And Mark Sundeen doesn't shy away from the intimately personal, or the tragically traumatic. All are part of the sculpture.

Like all of us, Daniel Suelo has many goals. This book is primarily about his achieving a kind of content freedom. He finds security in giving up the very thing that most of us think will give us security -- money. He steps aside from any power money has over him by acknowledging that it is an illusion that separates all of us from physical reality. He lives without money, period. This seems like a lofty goal, but Daniel isn't some kind of ascetic guru on a mountaintop. In fact he's made a few mistakes. And he's made a few compromises -- for example, utilizing the public library and the services of Google, in order to communicate what he has to say. Without carrying or using money, he's someone who lives abundantly, and someone with whom people enjoy spending time.

Mark Sundeen tells lots of stories. I enjoyed his book "North by Northwestern". It was a series of stories about a life on the sea I couldn't even imagine. In Mark's books, stories don't always follow in time sequence. But in the end, the reader realizes that all of the stories have been placed on the literary canvas in such a way that something complex and beautifully crafted emerges. So it is with "The Man Who Quit Money". Some of the stories let us get to know Daniel. Others serve to explain what Daniel talks about in his blog. One even outlines the thoughtful philosophy of the Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin for us non-philosophers. In the end, you have about as good a painting of my remarkable friend as you can possibly get without sitting down with him personally and getting to know him.

My life has been changed by Daniel. But if I said I was in debt to him, that would contradict his values. I'm not in debt because Daniel has given to me freely, and I have accepted freely. I don't believe true friends are ever in debt to each other. Money is about debt and obligation, entitlement and anxiety. Somehow Daniel's life has transcended that, and artfully, Mark Sundeen has given all of us insight into that transcendence while gently joining us in evaluating the compromises by which many of us fulfill our own goals.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lonnie Visintainer

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 6, 2023

Verified Purchase

As someone who has struggled with the way our modern society operates I found this book pleasant and educational to read.

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Top reviews from other countries

Ivim

Boring. Less about living off the land more about religion and repetition

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

I don’t read a whole lot. I was wanting a book on adventure and tips on how to live simply. But instead I got a book based around variations of Christianity and stories about people I don’t really care much about. I found it tedious to get through. This book feels like it’s for old men. I enjoyed the bits about him living in caves and the food he ate but all this history about Mormons and desert was just so boring! But as I say, I don’t read much. So don’t necessarily take my word for it.

3 people found this helpful

M. POOLE

A great book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

I rented this book from the library when it first came out and it really stuck with me. So much so I bought it recently and got the ebook too so I could highlight it. I lent it out to my Dad and he doesn't really read whole books that often. He read this one in a week and said he really enjoyed it.

One person found this helpful

jb

like mark boyle? you'll love this.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

bought this after seeing it quoted in mark boyle's 'the moneyless man' its a very interesting read and if you liked mark's book you'll enjoy this. it's opened my eyes to alternate ways of living and how 'throwaway' and money driven society has become, it's quite sad and shouldn't be like this.

2 people found this helpful

Holly

beautiful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 27, 2012

Verified Purchase

An absolutely beautiful book.
Life changing, I could quote from so many pages, I treasure my copy of this book and urge everyone to buy their own.

3 people found this helpful

S N Cowan

The Man Who Quit Money

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 16, 2013

Verified Purchase

If you've not heard of Daniel Shinabarger, known as Daniel Suelo, or just Suelo (apparently Spanish for "earth"), this will be an eye opener. After a couple of false starts, this man, Suelo, an American, has completely eschewed money. He feeds himself from food dumped by restaurants and supermarkets, which is still perfectly edible, but at the end of the day is left over and is therefore dumped in "dumpsters". If you're into minimalism, as I am, this man is the ultimate minimalist, although few of us would go this far. He grew up in a very religious Christian family, which has affected his outlook on life, and made him somewhat anticommercialist. He has been living in the wild for more than twelve years. He has his own website, which he accesses in public libraries at no cost to himself. He occasionally works, but refuses any payment for his work. An altogether remarkable man. The book is written with Suelo's permission and co-operation by a journalist who made his acquaintance. It is on the whole well written, although there are passages, which for me were a bit tedious.

7 people found this helpful

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