The author, Daniel Defoe, was born in 1659 in London, to a family that were fanatical Puritans, belonging the same religious group who, for example, shut down many theaters in London. After graduating from a Dissenter school, Defoe became involved in business. He financed with his money such things as shipbuilding and the import of civet cats. But these investments often went badly, so Defoe instead turned to pamphlet writing.

His first pamphlet was well received and it pleased the king. However, for his second pamphlet, which was about the Dissenters, Defoe was arrested and sent to jail. After he was freed from prison, Defoe began to write again, but this time it was books.

In the later years of his life Daniel Defoe wrote his most famous book, Robinson Crusoe. Reading fiction for pleasure was considered a sinful pastime in those days, so Defoe disguised his book as a biography of a real person. This is what makes Defoe so famous – his ability to write a novel in such a realistic way that it seems like a real life story. After Robinson Crusoe was well received by the English people, he wrote more novels, such as Captain Singleton, an adventure story about pirates and buried treasure.

Robinson Crusoe is an exciting book not because of interesting adventures or a gripping plot (it is in fact quite religious and even boring at times), but because of the way Defoe describes the hero’s, Robinson Crusoe’s, ability to survive on a tropical island.

As with probably many people, this was the part of the book that captivated me most. There are some adventures a couple chapters before Crusoe is shipwrecked, for example being captured by Moorish slave traders, and escaping captivity with the boy Xury (whom Crusoe later wishes he hadn’t sold), but Crusoe’s later life more original and interesting.

So, I’ll recount Crusoe’s life soon after the fateful shipwreck.

The very first thing that Robinson Crusoe does after the shipwreck is building a shelter. Luckily for him, the ship didn’t sink, but instead became beached on the island, and easily accessible. This makes me wonder how much differently Robinson Crusoe’s life would have been without materials from the ship.

First Crusoe builds a hut on stilts above the ground. It was very difficult for Crusoe to make boards, because he didn’t have tools, so from one tree he could only make one board. Inside the hut was a tent made from the boat sail. In case any creature would try to climb up, he made a ladder that he could pull up overnight. Around his hut Crusoe built a stone wall, and this, in my opinion, must have been some of the hardest work of all. He then built a storage room to keep the gunpowder barrels that he had salvaged from the sinking ship and his food store, made up of rum bottles, goat meat, and raisins.

I mostly enjoyed reading how Robinson Crusoe ingeniously made himself many household items, such as reed baskets, mud pots, and a goatskin umbrella. Crusoe also was very clever in taming some wild goats, and from then on he had a never-ending supply of milk, cheese, and butter. Also, he needed the skins of his goats to make clothing. But even more interesting is that he always thought ahead, for example, when he began growing grapes, Crusoe dried many of them into raisins so that he would have food for the monsoon season rains. Also, from pure luck, Robinson Crusoe discovered some corn kernels, which in time grew into corn stalks!

I think that if only Robinson Crusoe had some company, he wouldn’t have minded living on the island. It was probably paradise – his own beach, warm sea-water to swim in, his own herd of animals, a sturdy home to live in, a warm tropical climate…

If you want to find out how Robinson Crusoe’s life takes a sudden turn near the end of the book, you’ll just have to read the whole thing for yourself.

Personally, after reading this book, Robinson Crusoe, I was plagued with many thoughts: would I survive on an island in the middle of nowhere? Would I be as clever as Crusoe at surviving? How long would I be able to live in total isolation? I recommend reading this book to anybody who’s interested in learning survival skills and reading of another person’s hardships.