An island to oneself
A South Seas classic since 1966, this is the story of one New Zealander brave enough to do what we have all now and then dreamed of doing – live alone on a desert island In his youth Tom Neale was an ordinary seaman and for years a shopkeeper among the Cook Islands, but he was in his fifties when he turned his back on society to live alone on the South Pacific atoll of Suvarov (now known as Suwarrow). With him he took nothing but a couple of cats, some bric-a-brac to tie and bolt his meagre dwelling, and the strength of body and mind to survive. In the six years over which Neale wrote this autobiography there were heroic moments when he battled the elements: the furious hurricane that engulfed the coral islet; five desperate hours in a stormy lagoon with a cripplingly strained back; even a reluctant bit of blood-letting on wild pigs and a mammoth sea turtle. But along with the toils and perils were years of peace and beauty: building a chicken coop; baking with banana leaves; the delight drawn from a sip of brandy; and taming a wild duck. All of these simple pleasures are a reminder of what we take for granted in our own lives today.
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8recommend
15mentions
10people
2010–2026years
87% recommend13% neutral
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What Hacker News says
- Reminds me of Tom Neale's "An Island to Oneself" - https://harpercollins.com.au/products/9781775492979
- Highly recommend this book on the subject: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99746.An_Island_to_Onese... (An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale). The guy spent years on an island in the middle of the pacific all alone (almost, he has pets and animals).
On the subject, I'll say that voluntary solitude is amazing, loneliness sucks. However, the number of people you interact with has nothing to do with either.
What matters isn't the number of people you meet or the amount of human interaction you have, but the amount of intimacy you desire and how much of that is fulfilled. With that said, the road less traveled is always harsh, humans are social animals; fighting nature is a tumultuous affair.
- I love old books like this - I used to spend hours pouring over ebay (and yahoo auctions) picking up all sorts of weird and historically interesting books for less than £5 each.
Some of the most interesting (to me) I found through reading the 'you may also like' or 'by the same author' in the front or back of random purchases - and would then spend a period tracking then down. 'An Island to Oneself' and 'The Insecure Offenders' were probably two that I had the biggest impact on me and that were the most interesting, that I found this way.
I tried to buy a copy of 'A Island to Oneself' for a friend recently and couldn't get one for less than £250 so directed to him to the Internet Archive instead.
- In a similar vein to Dick Proenneke's book, have a read of "An Island to Oneself" by Tom Neale. It's about a guy who lived alone on a remote island in the Pacific. Incredibly calm and peaceful book about living a life completely removed from the endless complications of modern life. It's out of print but pretty sure you can download it as an ebook.
- Boy...that brings back memories. Paul's writings, as well as reading "An Island to Oneself" by Tom Neale, and "We, the Drowned" meant that most of my early 20s were filled with visions of sailing around the south pacific. Never quite made it there, but life is long...
- Tom Neale wrote "An Island to Oneself" in which he lived on a remote island multiple times in his life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Neale
The government still checked up on him on occasion and he had to return to society due to injury, but he was very much a hermit otherwise.
