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A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

nationalgeographic.com

61–70 of 84 posts

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#61
post #22

> During all his years on the island, Morandi says he has never gotten sick, a quality he attributes to "good genes." I bet reduced contact with other humans helped as well!

That + living outdoors and on your own turns you more resilient. Improves the constitution, so to speak. Like how you're less bothered by the cold the more time you spend outdoors.

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#62
post #22

> During all his years on the island, Morandi says he has never gotten sick, a quality he attributes to "good genes." I bet reduced contact with other humans helped as well!

That + living outdoors and on your own turns you more resilient. Improves the constitution, so to speak. Like how you're less bothered by the cold the more time you spend outdoors.

> That + living outdoors and on your own turns you more resilient.

Isn't this just a case of survivor bias? In that the people it kills, well, they aren't around to be "more resilient"...

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#63

I read another diary online from a man who lived alone on one of the pacific islands. I want to to say that it was in the 1970s but I can't be sure. I think he was originally a New Zealander. It was fascinating reading, describing how the wild pigs on the island would eat his freshly planted vegetable garden and how he hid up a tree at night until they showed up before leaping down to kill one of them. Also the regre…

>>Also the regret he felt after killing the animal. I feel like a lot of people would benefit from knowing the cost behind meat production. I eat meat, but growing up on a farm in the "old days" when you could still do this soft of thing, I have witnessed a pig being killed by literally stabbing it in the neck through the artery and waiting until it bleeds out, and then gutting it within minutes after death while the…

This was the best event in village, all children would gather around and then hunt internals to play with! Good times.

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#64
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably thinking of this guy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Neale

That was it. The site that I read the story on was here: http://www.janesoceania.com/suvarov_tom_neale/index.htm If you can look past the garish design of the site, it's great reading.

    color: blue;

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#65

I read another diary online from a man who lived alone on one of the pacific islands. I want to to say that it was in the 1970s but I can't be sure. I think he was originally a New Zealander. It was fascinating reading, describing how the wild pigs on the island would eat his freshly planted vegetable garden and how he hid up a tree at night until they showed up before leaping down to kill one of them. Also the regre…

>>Also the regret he felt after killing the animal. I feel like a lot of people would benefit from knowing the cost behind meat production. I eat meat, but growing up on a farm in the "old days" when you could still do this soft of thing, I have witnessed a pig being killed by literally stabbing it in the neck through the artery and waiting until it bleeds out, and then gutting it within minutes after death while the…

I can relate to this, except the last sentence. Taking advantage of the privilege of living in a society where meat alternatives and other sources of protein are abundant, my delayed reaction to witnessing animal slaughter was to quit eating animal products altogether. The only real cost of it has been in dealing with colleagues in the UK, who enjoy questioning me about my dietary choices (at best), or persistently try to convince me to eat meat (at worst).

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That + living outdoors and on your own turns you more resilient. Improves the constitution, so to speak. Like how you're less bothered by the cold the more time you spend outdoors.

> That + living outdoors and on your own turns you more resilient. Isn't this just a case of survivor bias? In that the people it kills, well, they aren't around to be "more resilient"...

In extreme environments, sure. My understanding is that this island is temperate, so it's more like camping at the lake than braving the desert or the taiga.

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#67

I find these stories about people like this exhilarating. I think we all yearn to do this, and yet few of us do.

I'm just one data point but I have absolutely zero desire to do something like this.

And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm an outdoorsy type, raised in the countryside where houses were miles apart. Still, as an adult I prefer the convenience of close society even though I'm not a "people person" by nature. Everyone has their own comfort zone.

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#68
post #2

For those interested in this story, you may also like the documentary "Alone In The Wilderness" by PBS. It's a great story of a man that lived alone for 30 years in the Alaskan wilderness. https://shop.pbs.org/alone-in-the-wilderness-dvd/product/ALW...

If you enjoyed that, you might also enjoy Dmitry Vasyukov's "Happy People" documentary about the people living in the Siberian taiga. It's on youtube [1].

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbhPIK-oBvA&list=PLcHbZZPce_...

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#69
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Also the regret he felt after killing the animal. I feel like a lot of people would benefit from knowing the cost behind meat production. I eat meat, but growing up on a farm in the "old days" when you could still do this soft of thing, I have witnessed a pig being killed by literally stabbing it in the neck through the artery and waiting until it bleeds out, and then gutting it within minutes after death while the…

I can relate to this, except the last sentence. Taking advantage of the privilege of living in a society where meat alternatives and other sources of protein are abundant, my delayed reaction to witnessing animal slaughter was to quit eating animal products altogether. The only real cost of it has been in dealing with colleagues in the UK, who enjoy questioning me about my dietary choices (at best), or persistently t…

Maybe "appreciate" wasn't the right word here - I don't mean it in a way like "I appreciate how delicious this is" but "I appreciate that something had to die for me to eat this sausage".

Re: A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years

#70
post #2

For those interested in this story, you may also like the documentary "Alone In The Wilderness" by PBS. It's a great story of a man that lived alone for 30 years in the Alaskan wilderness. https://shop.pbs.org/alone-in-the-wilderness-dvd/product/ALW...

Let me also add "The consolations of the forest" by Sylvain Tesson, who lived alone on the shores of Lake Baykal for about a year. A well-written book about an interesting story.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/01/consolations-f...

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