A Man Who Has Lived Alone on an Island for 28 Years | Hacker News Reader

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

nationalgeographic.com

461 pointsfern1278 comments

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 regret he felt after killing the animal.

At one point he pulled a muscle in his back and just by chance someone landed on the island a day later and helped nurse him back to health.

I've Googled for it now and again but never been able to find the original side (I read the story around 2008).

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.

I have a large stack of paper with that story that I printed out. Excellent read for anyone with deserted island escapist fantasies. Also excellent because of the depth of his preparations and how he applies science and logic to his situation.

Can't recommend it enough.

There's a fantastic book 'Outsiders' by Gerard Hindmarsh, that overviews the story of Tom Neale and many other fringe New Zealanders such as Robert Long, Maori Bill, Snow Mayer, and Keiko Agatsuma.

Hindmarsh himself spent some of his youth in the hippie homestead/commune at Golden Bay, and that perspective really helps illuminate how these people chose to live.

about:reader?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.janesoceania.com%2Fsuvarov_tom_neale%2Findex.htm handles the garish design.

I didn't realize that this was actually a book until digging around a bit more for less garish alternatives: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0918024765

It's a fantastic book, strongly recommend.

    color: blue;

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

>>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 flesh is still warm. The whole process made you very aware of what goes into making a sausage or a porkchop and appreciate it a lot more, and nowadays I get upset about wasting food in general.

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

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).

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".

“Meat stunts your growth” closes the conversation down if you’re 195cm (6’5”). It is weird how people, particularly in the UK, particularly if 60+ years old fixate on it.

> At one point he pulled a muscle in his back and just by chance someone landed on the island a day later and helped nurse him back to health.

According to Wikipedia, it was originally thought to be a slipped-disc but later turned out to be Arthritis

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...

A teacher had us watch this in college. It's amazing.

I usually end up watching that documentary every few years because I find it extremely relaxing. Highly recommended.

You might be interested to know that there's more than one documentary. 4 in total!

Just as a quick link for people interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke

He also wrote books. The first One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey isn't bad either.

I love this documentary, I watch it at least twice a year.

You may be interested in this one as well then.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1874815/

It's about a guy that walked the entire length of the Amazon river. Took 2 1/2 years.

That would be Ed Stafford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Stafford . He has many TV series where he survives starting with nothing (other than camera gear) and some other shows. Probably the most entertaining, down-to-earth and genuine survivalists on tv.

A bit overly dramatic if you ask me though.

I stumbled across this documentary on PBS years ago and couldn't stop watching it. Something about the old production quality and narrative was an enjoyable departure from the tension building in most modern documentaries.

As mentioned by another poster, try watching Primitive Technology[1] on Youtube. Very similar feel.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA

Used to be good, but too many copycats has saturated the aurora of the primitive technologist.

That makes no sense. We're not talking about a commodity that's for sale and thus, loses its market value as the market becomes saturated by Chinese knock-offs and look-a-likes. It's more than just a show for the mindless consumption of viewers on social media. Primitive Technology videos came from his own personal interest and love for the art of craftsmanship itself, thus, his videos have not lost any of their value, as his motives and drive were never commercial to begin with.

It's your option to eat fast-food, but in no way does that devaluate high end cuisine.

edit: typo

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.

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. :)

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...

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

> 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!

Lack of the low-level stress of noise pollution, danger of attack/need to conform, less chemical/petrol pollution, and no temptation of fast-food etc may help too.

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.

This. Much of our sickness comes from animals we co-habit with, and humans spreading/incubating germs. Staying away from humans and not bedding with animals is the best way to avoid getting sick.

He appears to interact with tourists, so although the island doesn't have any other permanent inhabitants he does interact with other people, so not alone for 28 years.

And he has wifi.

Anyone can be alone at any location. If you live in the city, you can live alone. The article states that tourists were banned until sometime in the 90s.

Wifi is a recent thing he has acquired, not something he has had for 28 years. I doubt the 78 year old man browses reddit and hackernews. Probably more of a weather tool.

The article implied he uses it to share and promote knowledge of the island, and that it's a concession he makes because he believes it's for the greater good.

Who knows what he's using it for, he setup a Facebook account and separate page for the island where he posts photos and videos multiple times per week:

> In response to increasing development of the region, an internet company established a Wi-Fi connection on Budelli, connecting Morandi and his beloved piece of paradise to the world through social media[0]. Embracing this new form of communication is his concession on behalf of a larger purpose—to facilitate a bond between people and nature by exposing them to its beauty[1]. A bond Morandi hopes will motivate people to care for the withering planet.

A lot of the photos also have various filters applied. He clearly understands this new smartphone technology. It's only a matter of time before someone asks him to do an AMA on Reddit.

[0]: https://www.facebook.com/8isola/ [1]: https://www.facebook.com/mauro.dabudelli/posts/1794931617416...

Also, a Japanese guy has lived on an island “alone” for roughly the same time:

Japan’s Naked Island Hermit: VICE INTL (2014) https://youtu.be/ZBtBePnUOZU

The thing is there are varying degrees of hermitage and a true hermit obviously doesn’t give interviews. ;)

Wow, that was inspiring and moving. Excuse me, I need to go outside…

A hermit is anyone who intentionally separates themselves from society. Mauro Morandi is also a hermit if you ask me.

At a much lower level, HN readers may enjoy this guy's blog.

https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com/

He started out with stone tools (that he made himself) and is now up to the level of experimenting with smelting iron.

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.

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.

The article definitely appeals to anyone with a Robinson Crusoe fantasy. Framed less generously, you could be reading about a squatter on public land supported by bi-weekly food shipments.

Somewhat related, the homesteading culture is pretty vibrant and full of tech savvy folks like Jaimie Mantzel. His island fortress series is fascinating: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1p7jFXjL7Q0qMii08oAeAQ

> Framed less generously, you could be reading about a squatter on public land supported by bi-weekly food shipments.

You could, but that description sounds misleading enough to be verging on dishonest. He is not simply squatting, but has a role on the island - a role that he filled after the previous caretaker retired.

Eh, maybe.

I'm wary of romanticizing the situation. There's an island, once privately owned but bought back by the Italian government for several million €, which is part of a national park set up to preserve the ecosystem.

And by serendipity, we have Morandi, shipwrecked some thirty years ago and with no background in botany or biology, who's set up as steward-for-life on a place any grad student would give their left arm to caretake.

The guy lives in a literal (and littoral, ha!) paradise in a situation so bizarrely irreproducible one can only think, "Yeah, must be a nice life..."

Would we have the same warm fuzzy — "That guy's got it aaallll figured out" — feeling if NatGeo wrote the article about the once-owner, Michael Harte, bivouacking on his private island?

> Would we have the same warm fuzzy — "That guy's got it aaallll figured out" — feeling if NatGeo wrote the article about the once-owner, Michael Harte, bivouacking on his private island?

Probably more so, and it would be an even more interesting article in my opinion - 'Multimillionaire Banking Executive Gives It All up for a Solitary Island Life'. The existing article mostly left me thinking "what caused this guy to leave society". That same question of a multimillionaire in that situation could prove enlightening for many.

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

Doing it as a full life change would scare most people off, but even getting yourself to a very remote place for a shorter period of time can be liberating. US national parks have pretty incredible backcountry options and you don't have to stray far from the popular trails to end up largely on your own.

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.

> 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.

It's simply that many people feel they need a little more solitude than they currently have, an unmet need (like when you're hungry, you could "eat a horse").

Certainly, many people live at a far greater density than that at which humans evolved (or even of a generation ago).

> 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.

I'm not sure everyone yearns to live alone 100% of the time, but I think everyone at some stage would like to have a place where they can spend time alone, and in peace.

After months on end of my neighbors slamming their car doors at all hours of the night, I'd quite like to spend a few weeks/months somewhere quiet, and preferably without cars (and their doors).

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).

Though not along the same lines as the other stories mentioned here, Seven Years in Tibet was an interesting book, also made into a film.

I hope he does an AMA.

I guess this man is an island

How does he get food?

One of the picture captions, "He has a companion who delivers groceries to the island every two weeks."

Well, I spoke to his friend, Wilson, who said while he was on the island he had a ball.

Isn’t this article months old? Why is it relevant today?

It's only been posted twice to HN, today and 15 days ago. Both times by the same person. They obviously thought it was interesting, and by the fact it's now on the HN front page, [probably] means that the HN community found it interesting also. HN is not a current-news site; posts should be [from the FAQ]:

Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

First time, no comments. Just an observation.

HN has plenty of randomness that may float or sink a submission. That's why the mods themselves have been experimenting with resubmission of potentially interesting links that didn't get any traction.

Monitor the New page, you'll see MOST submissions don't get any engagement, that doesn't mean they are not interesting to someone.

Why would it be any less relevant today than it was when it was first posted? I doubt things have changed for him much in the last month...

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