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Sebastian Ritscher
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THE MAN WHO QUIT MONEY

Mark Sundeen

In the autumn of 2000, Daniel Suelo left his life savings—all thirty dollars of it—in a phone booth. He has lived without money ever since—and has never felt so much at peace. “I never knew such security before I gave up money,” he says. “My wealth never leaves me. Do you think Bill Gates is more secure than I?”
For more than a decade, Suelo hasn’t earned, received, or spent a single cent. He hasn’t paid taxes, or accepted food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyon lands, forages blackberries and wild onions, and accepts what is freely given him. He has drifted so far from the trappings of what we consider a successful life—with its attendant mortgages, monthly bills, and credit card debt—that he no longer even carries an I.D. In THE MAN WHO QUIT MONEY, author Mark Sundeen traces the path that led the enigmatic Suelo, step by step, into this life—from the deeply religious family he still holds close, to his disillusionment with more conventional ways of doing good (Peace Corps, work with the homeless)that brought him to the brink of suicide. Sundeen captures the life Suelo built instead. Provocative, riveting, and impossible to shrug off, here is a portrait of one man’s wholehearted quest to realize his unique vision–a vision that makes us question the decisions we all make, by default or by design, about how we live.
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Book

Published 2012-03-01 by Riverhead

Book

Published 2012-03-01 by Riverhead

Comments

“Sundeen, who has written an extraordinary and thought-provoking book…[that] provides the counterweight to consumerism, greed and the corporatization of society…Even if we don't want to be like him, the story of his life will leave readers with persistent, itchy and unsettling questions about what life means and just how important money is or isn't.” Read more...

“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.”

“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.” Read more...

“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- in every way he can. 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.” Read more...

“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."

“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.”

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