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

nationalgeographic.com

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

#71

Post by pdabbadabba »

wohlergehen wrote: post #68
giarc wrote: 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_...

Worth noting that it was actually co-written and directed by Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog and narrated by Werner Herzog. It's not that I care much about who gets the credit, but I suspect there are people out there (such as myself) who will be much more likely to watch it if they know Herzog is involved. :)

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

#72

Post by eurticket »

Rodeoclash wrote: post #21
eej71 wrote: 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.

This css bookmarklet helps some, https://oxal.org/projects/sakura/bookmark

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

#74

Post by vinceguidry »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #59
sooper wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As mentioned by another poster, try watching Primitive Technology[1] on Youtube. Very similar feel. [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA

A shame that guy / channel doesn't have more videos, and/or there's a lot of repetition in it. I like it though.

Part of it's charm, I think. He's out there, all by himself, doing these things with nothing more than department store cargo shorts, a webcam, and his own two hands and what he built with it.

The repetition is a reflection of what primitive life had to really be like.

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

#75

Post by coldcode »

You don't know how many times I've been tempted to become a monk (not hermit) in a cloistered community and just forget the world entirely. The world is ugly, complex and full of things designed to drive you nuts. But I would have give up programming, so I soldier on. Simplifying your life is very difficult if you have to participate in a world that expects so much of everyone. I have no desire to be alone all the time though which is one reason I refuse to work remotely. If I did ditch everything it would only work if I truly left everything behind.

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

#76

Post by lerie82 »

This man was not alone on an island for 28 years. He may have lived by himself but that's no real feat, especially considering he was not alone. People live in big cities "alone for 28 years" or even longer.

People live like this without being in a tropical paradise, why is this getting attention? People are fascinated with the idea that they too could live on a deserted island (but of course this island wasn't deserted when he landed).

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

#77

Post by dragonwriter »

coldcode wrote: post #75

You don't know how many times I've been tempted to become a monk (not hermit) in a cloistered community and just forget the world entirely. The world is ugly, complex and full of things designed to drive you nuts. But I would have give up programming, so I soldier on. Simplifying your life is very difficult if you have to participate in a world that expects so much of everyone. I have no desire to be alone all the ti…

It's not necessarily true that you couldn't be a programmer in a cloistered order; cloistered monks and nuns doing such work, usually either for the order itself or for other Church entities, absolutely are a thing.

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

#78

Post by Infernal »

giarc wrote: 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...

I think it's worth pointing out that he did not live 30 consecutive years alone in Alaska - he did stay the first winter, and maybe a couple other winters here and there, but by and large he returned to the lower 48 each winter and stayed with friends and relatives[0]

0. http://richardproenneke.com/faqs

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

#80

Post by rhapsodic »

subpixel wrote: post #30
rhapsodic wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find these stories about people like this exhilarating. I think we all yearn to do this, and yet few of us do. I disagree. I think humans are social animals, and people like this -- who choose to live in isolation for an extended period of time -- are an aberration.

Many people are attracted by the idea of living in isolation, but few people stick it out. I think this guy on an island that is not very far from civilization (including grocery delivery and the occasional cruising sailboat) strikes a balance more of us could grow accustomed to. Personally, I'm pretty sure my wife and I would sign up to take his spot tomorrow.

> Personally, I'm pretty sure my wife and I would sign up to take his spot tomorrow.

If you're living with a spouse -- presumably someone with whom you have a good rapport and a sexual relationship -- then you're hardly living in isolation.

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