Mick's presentation began with the announcement that his book was the wrong book, but that serendipity saw fit to make this wrong book the right book. The book was Walkabout, by James Vance Marshall. During the presentation and discussion, the main issue discussed was the origin and contemporary equivalent to the walkabout itself. The original walkabout was an aboriginal rite of passage in which thirteen year olds were to wander the wilderness for six months, retracing the routes taken by their ancestors. This event, as well as Mick's forced pedestrianism as a result of automobile complications, reminded me of the transcendentalist notion of returning to nature.
As for the book itself, the synopsis I discovered created a very depressing scene. Two children, lost in the wilderness are assisted by an aborigine on his walkabout. I'd rather not spoil the events of the book, but it seemed very similar to the rape of persephone, where an outside force intrudes upon the simplicity and peace of a natural existence and eventually causes its downfall.
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