During this program, Mark Sundeen talks about and reads from his book, The Man Who Quit Money.

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"In the first year of the twenty-first century, a man standing by a highway in the middle of America pulled from his pocket his life savings--thirty dollars--laid it inside a phone booth, and walked away." During this program, we find out who this man is and why he quit money. This is a true story, researched and written by Mark Sundeen.

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 canyon lands, 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.

Mark Sundeen was born in Harbor City, California, in 1970. He is an award-winning writer whose nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, the Believer, and elsewhere. He is the author of the books 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.

Sundeen has taught fiction and nonfiction at the MFA creative writing programs at the University of New Mexico and Western Connecticut State University. He lives in Montana and Utah.

Read an excerpt from 'The Man Who Quit Money' at Mark Sundeen's Web site.

You'll find The Man Who Quit Money at Fact & Fiction in Missoula, or at your local independent bookseller.

The Write Question is produced by Chérie Newman.

Read an interview with TWQ producer Chérie Newman on the Humanities Montana Web site.

Executive producer, Michael Marsolek.

Special thanks to Lisa Simon, David Moore, Barbara Theroux, and Kim Anderson.

This program is supported in part by Humanities Montana, connecting kids to community, supporting vital cultural institutions, and encouraging community conversations. And by Montana's Cultural Trust, Fact & Fiction book stores, and Public Radio Listeners.

The Write Question: a program that explores the world of writing and publishing in the western United States.

The music in this program was written and performed by John Floridis.

Send comments to Chérie Newman.

Guests on the The Write Question are writers, publishers, and illustrators living, or working for an extended period of time, in the western United States. The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.