By Daniel Defoe
This was an interesting read in terms of how it was written in contemporary, or even earlier English (mid 17th century) and seeing how spelling was different there. A constant reminder that this isn't happening in our time, or even a couple of centuries ago, because otherwise, in terms of the Human Condition, nothing really has changed. Sure, some norms were different (for example, I was quite disappointed that he never even asked what Friday's actual name was!). It was also a little frustrating that there's not much mention of tropical fruits that might have been found in the island - The only fruit he regularly harvested was grapes. I'm not a native fruit expert, but I'm sure there must have been more than that he could have tried.
Religious sentiments are rampant in this book (another thing that reminds one of the time this book was written), which was a bit excessive. And there were some very long descriptions of minutia that were quite tedious, which made it take me quite a long time to read (though I did finish it about 10 days ago). But overall, it was, as I said, interesting. This edition also included reports on Alexander Selkirk, who was in part the inspiration of this story. [318 pp. including notes]
Link to book (This is a later print. I read the one from 1972, Penguin English Library)
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