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Title: The Confessions of a Beachcomber by E. J. Banfield ISBN: 1-929516-15-0 Publisher: Dixon-Price Publishing Pub. Date: 15 February, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A man who left a high-stress, dead-end career
Comment: The Confessions Of A Beachcomber is the fascinating autobiography of a man who left a high-stress, dead-end career to live the simple live of a beachcomber on Dunk Island off the northern coast of Queensland, Australia. An avowed disciple of Thoreau, Banfield sough as simple a life as possible and maintained that life on his tropical island for twenty-five years. He involved himself in observing the flora, fauna, and aborigines of the island, and through the publication of The Confessions Of A Beachcomber became one of Australia's highly regarded literary figures. Now available to an American readership through this Dixon-Price edition, The Confessions Of A Beachcomber is especially recommended reading for any one who has ever felt like chucking so-called "modern life" and return to a simpler, more basic existence in harmony with the environment and all that nature has to offer the contemplative life.
Rating: 4
Summary: for island lovers with a keen eye for detail
Comment: Under inauspicious circumstances -- failing health -- Banfield arrives on Dunk island off of Australia's northeast coast. But as island lovers everywhere know, more often than not islands have a way of reintroducing vitality to the soul and regenerating failing health. Consider Robert Louis Stevenson! Such was the situation of Banfield when he arrived on Dunk Island.
Banfield's greatest skill within this book is his journalistic training and keen powers of observation. His descriptions of island birdlife, in particular, present detailed glimpses of behavior and how individual birds interact with the rest of the island. "With the aid of a good telescope and a compact pair of field glasses, birds may be studied and known far more pleasurably than as stark cabinet specimens," he writes. It's no surprise to find out later that Banfield eventually persuaded -- similar to Thoreau and Muir in America -- the Australian government to set aside Dunk Island as a protected wildlife area.
Banfield also turns his attentions to other island life, such as the coral reef and fishes surrounding the island, and including Aboriginals living on Dunk Island. While sounding condescending now, nearly a century later, his observations offer interesting insights into times past.
Banfield's book reminded me of a non-political, "Desert Solitaire"-esque Edward Abbey turning his attention to a tropical island, in that the location is both a background and a source of detailed information. I enjoyed reading about the behavior of all island life and appreciated Banfield's obvious patience and skills as an observor. Being an island aficionado myself, I felt like I was enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of some of my favorite places revisited.
Overall, an excellent book to add to your library, whether travel, island, bird, or environmentally related.
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Title: Book of Puka Puka by Robert Dean Frisbie ISBN: 0935180273 Publisher: Mutual Publishing Pub. Date: 01 February, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: An Island to Oneself: Six Years on a Desert Island by Tom Neale, Noel Barber ISBN: 0918024765 Publisher: Ox Bow Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Blue of Capricorn by Eugene Burdick ISBN: 0935180362 Publisher: Mutual Publishing Pub. Date: 01 February, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Castaway in Paradise: The Incredible Adventures of True-Life Robinson Crusoes by James C. Simmons ISBN: 1574090666 Publisher: Sheridan House Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Rascals in Paradise by James A. Michener ISBN: 0449214591 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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