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The Songlines
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Narrated by:
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James Langton
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By:
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Bruce Chatwin
About this listen
International Bestseller: The famed travel writer and author of In Patagonia traverses Australia, exploring Aboriginal culture and song - and humanity's origins.
Long ago, the creators wandered Australia and sang the landscape into being, naming every rock, tree, and watering hole in the great desert. Those songs were passed down to the Aboriginals, and for centuries they have served not only as a shared heritage but as a living map. Sing the right song, and it can guide you across the desert. Lose the words, and you will die.
Into this landscape steps Bruce Chatwin, the greatest travel writer of his generation, who comes to Australia to learn these songs. A born wanderer, whose lust for adventure has carried him to the farthest reaches of the globe, Chatwin is entranced by the cultural heritage of the Aboriginals. As he struggles to find the deepest meaning of these ancient, living songs, he is forced to embark on a much more difficult journey - through his own history - to reckon with the nature of language itself.
Part travelogue, part memoir, part novel, The Songlines is one of Bruce Chatwin's final - and most ambitious - works. From the author of the bestselling In Patagonia and On the Black Hill, a sweeping exploration of a landscape, a people, and one man's history, it is the sort of book that changes the listener forever.
©1987 Bruce Chatwin (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The moral complexity of a comic book
- By Tot on 02-22-19
By: David Remnick
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True Grit
- By: Charles Portis
- Narrated by: Donna Tartt
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl from Dardanelle, Arkansas, sets out to avenge her Daddy who was shot to death by a no-good outlaw. Mattie convinces one-eyed "Rooster" Cogburn, the meanest U.S. marshal in the land, to ride along with her. In True Grit, we have a true American classic, as young Mattie, as vital as she is innocent, outdickers and outmaneuvers the hard-bitten men of the trail in a legend that will last through the ages.
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So worth it!
- By Tommygaus on 12-29-10
By: Charles Portis
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Forest Walking
- Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America
- By: Peter Wohlleben, Jane Billinghurst
- Narrated by: Sean Sonier
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When you walk in the woods, do you use all five senses to explore your surroundings? For most of us, the answer is no—but when we do, a walk in the woods can go from pleasant to immersive and restorative. Forest Walking teaches you how to engage with the forest by decoding nature’s signs and awakening to the ancient past and thrilling present of the ecosystem around you.
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More than meets the eye
- By movinon on 01-30-23
By: Peter Wohlleben, and others
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Paradise Bronx
- The Life and Times of New York's Greatest Borough
- By: Ian Frazier
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past fifteen years, Ian Frazier has been walking the Bronx. Paradise Bronx reveals the amazingly rich and tumultuous history of this amazingly various piece of our greatest city. From Jonas Bronck, who bought land from the local Native Americans, to the formerly gang-wracked South Bronx that gave birth to hip-hop, Frazier’s loving exploration is a moving tour de force about the polyglot culture that is America today.
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Just Beautiful
- By Yusuf on 09-09-24
By: Ian Frazier
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The Art Thief
- A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
- By: Michael Finkel
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Michael Finkel
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
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A book that's steals your attention!
- By samy on 07-23-23
By: Michael Finkel
What listeners say about The Songlines
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Peter Ryers
- 10-07-21
Travel with Bruce
The audio from James Langton is wonderful. A discourse in descriptive archeology, anthropology, philosophy and travel. Beautifully written.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Douglas Baldwin
- 02-16-23
More about Chatwin than Songlines
Expected to learn more about Aboriginal
Culture, but got rambling stories and later disjointed thoughts about the author’s travels and favorite books in several countries.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-16-24
more than I expected
I was not expecting the author to illustrate the linkages between Australian pre history and the rest of the world in such depth. it was a good story and a unique learning experience.
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- Terrie Wallace
- 06-30-23
Eye opening
An in-depth look at an unfamiliar culture. I came to a new understanding of Australia’s original peoples.
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- Owen Summerscales
- 01-18-25
Outstanding
An absolute classic, a must read/listen. Good narration. 15 worst minimum so here's some words.
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