The Confessions of a Beachcomber
Author | : | |
Rating | : | 4.86 (868 Votes) |
Asin | : | 1404356193 |
Format Type | : | paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 264 Pages |
Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"No better, more human, more finely descriptive, or more enticing books have ever been written by an Australian of Australia" -- The Sydney Mail"This is a wholly exceptional book which has been lived, and there are not over many books like that." -- The Daily Chronicle
Does the fact that a weak mortal sought an unprofaned sanctuary — an island removed from the haunts of men — and there dwelt in tranquillity, happiness and security, represent any just occasion for the relation of his experiences — experiences necessarily out of the common? To this proposition it will be for these pages to find answer. Few men of their own free will seek seclusion, for does not man belong to the social vertebrates, and do not the instincts of the many rule? And when an individual is fain to acknowledge himself a variant from the type, and his characteristics or idiosyncrasies (as you will) to be so marked as to impel him to deem them sound and reasonable; when, after sedate and temperate ponderings upon all the aspects of voluntary exile as affecting his lifetime partner as well as himself, he deliberately puts himself out of communion with his fellows, does the experiment constitute him a messenger? Can there be aught of entertainment or instruction in the message he may fancy himself called upon to deliver? or, is the fancy merely another phase of the tyranny of temperament?
"for island lovers with a keen eye for detail" according to motuman. 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, pres. for island lovers with a keen eye for detail motuman 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, pres. A man who left a high-stress, dead-end career 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 Aust