Songlines

Another by Bruce Chatwin - I was on a roll. I don't like this book as much as In Patagonia, mostly because the lives of the Aboriginals he chronicles seem so dreary and hard. They've been relegated to the worst, hardest sections of Australia to live in abject poverty and watch their traditional territories taken over by cattle and sheep stations and railroads. But given what our country has done to Native Americans, who am I to judge?

Anyway, while Chatwin starts out learning about Aboriginal "songlines," the creation stories and maps that are sung of the country, the book turns into something that's much, much more. He includes sections on Darwin and evolution, nomads, migratory birds, and philosophy, to name just a few.

The book peters out in the end, but it's still worth a read.