BOOK REVIEW: An Island To Oneself, by Tom Neale

While visiting my close friend Erin in Beijing the other day, her husband showed me a book, the premise of which, made this book a must-read for me.  The book looked non-descript which is usually the best kind!  That book was called “An Island To Oneself”, written by Tom Neale, who writes about his time living on a deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific.  Who do you know has not dreamt of escaping the world and all of its stresses and living alone on an island?  Well, Tom Neale actually did do it and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book to gobble it up upon my return home.

I won’t rehash all of the details as you can Google them, but the author is a free spirited man who hears a story about someone having lived on an island in what’s known as Suvarov which is an atoll in the South Pacific, part of the Cook Islands or Rarotanga.  The stories the author hears plant a seed of imagination within the mind of Tom Neale who decides to save some money for supplies, plan extensively, and ultimately make his way to Suvarov to live off  ofthe land.  Armed with a couple of cats as his companions, tobacco, some food, and tools to get by, Tom takes a giant risk going to this island as he has no idea what, or who, will be there upon his arrival.

This is back in the 1950’s just after World War II.  There were no cell phones, or internet, or satellite phones.  The island he was going to, had no running water, electricity, and it was not along any trade routes, so there was to be no human contact or regular supplies.  If he changed his mind and wanted to come home, well….there was no way for him to get off of the island since he was going to get dropped off there.  The closest land was something like 500 miles away through fairly rough seas.  To call this an adventure would be putting it mildly.

On the other hand, this atoll was what posters were made out of.  Picture crystal clear, turqoise water, white sand, palm trees and fortunately for Tom, a small house.  I won’t recite the whole book but reading his adventure and the amazing people that show up on the island every four to six months is captivating.  I actually think Tom Neale is an expert at the law of attraction and he didn’t even know it at the time.  I’ll give you a couple of examples.

At one point in the book Tom had run out of cigarettes.  He wasn’t a big smoker, but for some reason, he began having cravings that were affecting his health.  When he thought he was about to go crazy one night, his pet cat jumped on a table, knocked over a book, and voi-la, a pack of cigarettes he didn’t even know existed suddenly fell onto the floor.  Remember, this is on a deserted island where there were no stores or humans around.  Coincidence?

In another instance, Tom gets badly injured.  So badly injured, one wonders if he’ll survive since he can’t even move – he’s paralyzed.  It’s not like he can simply dial 911 or push the LifeAlert button hanging around his neck and get rescued.  Imagine, paralyzed on a deserted island in the South Pacific.  No medicine, no nothing.  In a few days though, MIRACULOUSLY, visitors from a yacht end up walking right through his front door and rescue him.  What are the chances of that?  Keep in mind that the island was almost never visited and he could go 12 months without ever seeing a human being at times.  Amazing.

In many ways I wish Tom wrote about philosophies or epiphanies he had while on the island.  The book is more of a description of the things he did and how he solved problems while on the island.  Despite that, I finished the book feeling refreshed and satisfied because I realized you don’t always have to be handed insights to you on a silver platter every time you open a book.  The insights are for you as the reader to realize.

If you’ve ever dreamed about living on a deserted island, dream no further.  In life he keep thinking about things we would love to do, but never take those first steps to make those dreams a reality.  Be like Tom Neale and start taking actions towards your desires.  Tom Neale was broke and had next to no money but still made things happen by maintaining hope and keeping a positive attitude.  With those two ingredients, you can achieve anything you want.  Just ask Tom Neale.

(well not really, you can’t ask him cuz he died back in 1977.)

• An Island To Myself
• An Island To Oneself
• living on a deserted island
• suvarov
• suwarrow atoll
• Tom Neale