The Confessions of a Beachcomber

Rating:
Summary: A man who left a high-stress, dead-end career
Review: The Confessions Of A Beachcomber is the fascinating autobiography of a man who left a high-stress, dead-end career to live the simple live of a beachcomber on Dunk Island off the northern coast of Queensland, Australia. An avowed disciple of Thoreau, Banfield sough as simple a life as possible and maintained that life on his tropical island for twenty-five years. He involved himself in observing the flora, fauna, and aborigines of the island, and through the publication of The Confessions Of A Beachcomber became one of Australia's highly regarded literary figures. Now available to an American readership through this Dixon-Price edition, The Confessions Of A Beachcomber is especially recommended reading for any one who has ever felt like chucking so-called "modern life" and return to a simpler, more basic existence in harmony with the environment and all that nature has to offer the contemplative life.

Rating:
Summary: for island lovers with a keen eye for detail
Review: Under inauspicious circumstances -- failing health -- Banfield arrives on Dunk island off of Australia's northeast coast. But as island lovers everywhere know, more often than not islands have a way of reintroducing vitality to the soul and regenerating failing health. Consider Robert Louis Stevenson! Such was the situation of Banfield when he arrived on Dunk Island.

Banfield's greatest skill within this book is his journalistic training and keen powers of observation. His descriptions of island birdlife, in particular, present detailed glimpses of behavior and how individual birds interact with the rest of the island. "With the aid of a good telescope and a compact pair of field glasses, birds may be studied and known far more pleasurably than as stark cabinet specimens," he writes. It's no surprise to find out later that Banfield eventually persuaded -- similar to Thoreau and Muir in America -- the Australian government to set aside Dunk Island as a protected wildlife area.

Banfield also turns his attentions to other island life, such as the coral reef and fishes surrounding the island, and including Aboriginals living on Dunk Island. While sounding condescending now, nearly a century later, his observations offer interesting insights into times past.

Banfield's book reminded me of a non-political, "Desert Solitaire"-esque Edward Abbey turning his attention to a tropical island, in that the location is both a background and a source of detailed information. I enjoyed reading about the behavior of all island life and appreciated Banfield's obvious patience and skills as an observor. Being an island aficionado myself, I felt like I was enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of some of my favorite places revisited.

Overall, an excellent book to add to your library, whether travel, island, bird, or environmentally related.