James Murray recounts nine days spent in the remote and beautiful landscapes of the Northern Territory, yet this is much more than a book about bushwalking. A delicate hymn to the wilderness of Northern Australia, My Life in the Sea of Cars: A Letter from Arnhem Land is a journey of personal exploration and self discovery, and a passionate argument for a new way of living. The ways in which rampant consumerism, and an obsession with the motor car have become so entrenched in people s lives is explored through relationships, memory, culture, identity and the meditative act of walking. When Murray candidly reveals his own family secrets and likely ancestry his book takes on yet another dimension. Totally original, and heartbreakingly honest, Murray asks us the difficult, awkward questions that will not go away. Where has our culture gone so wrong? An original and provocative book, part stream of consciousness, part epiphany, part treatise and part heartfelt lament for a consumerist, car-addicted society which leaves such a trail of devastation in its wake. Murray's unflinching eye takes in the fallout left by the wrecking ball of unquestioning materialism, and his observations are acute, honest and at times uncomfortably spot on. He plumbs these assumptions from the car-less, people-less tranquility of a solitary nine-day bushwalk, and we are there with him every step of the way: across remote gorges and into creeks, on escarpments and past rock drawings, listening to his impassioned arguments, ideas and insights, the recounting of old conversations and new possibilities, breakdowns and breakthroughs. It's a rich, intriguing, candid mix Murray is one hitchhiker I would definitely pick up. Cate Kennedy, author of Dark Roots, Sing and Don t Cry, and The World Beneath
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James Murray was born in Melbourne, grew up in Queensland, has travelled widely, and now lives in Darwin with his two children. He plays music, he bushwalks and, if he can find someone to give him a decent game, he enjoys chess. My Life in the Sea of Cars argues a compelling case against the motor car.
My Life in the Sea of Cars: A Letter from Arnhem Land It s a pleasure to come across a book so original, interesting and thoughtful. Murray is a bushwalker, confirmed bicycle rider and sometime hitchhiker who sees the world with eyes different from most people s. His account of a nine-day bushwalk in Arnhem Land includes musings on the perils of being different in a culture that prizes uniformity, thoughts on cars as a symbol of a society too far removed from nature, and a born naturalist s joy in the wild world around him. They are all woven into a fresh, confident narrative that is hard to put down. Murray belongs with the best of that small band of idiosyncratic writers who find their muses in solitude and wild. places. - --Rick Sullivan, Adelaide Advertiser 9 May 2009
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Soft cover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Book is in a good condition. Cover shows slight wear from reading and storage. Tanning to pages due to age. Signed by author. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 001882
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Seller: Hill End Books, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Foxing t0o ffep, light tanning to the outer page edge: 201 pages. Seller Inventory # ABE-1677893609596
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