by Writerbob

Created on: February 01, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

This will be an unusual (not to mention) obscure choice for most. 'Mysterious Island' by Jules Verne is the only book that I have read more than 3 times in my life, and I have read it over ten. To me, it is the most essential story of the human struggle to survive ethically in a hostile environment that has ever been written.

On the literal level, it is a Robinson Crusoe type of survival story with the usual elements: stranding on a desert island; physical hardships and danger; unseen benefactors; life-or-death decisions between expediency and morality, just to name some. But the master Verne is at his best here by restraining the fantastical elements of his typical work and delving into the minutia of 5 men (later to become 6) who put aside their regional cultural and philosophic differences to create a miraculous Utopian environment in just a few years.

I first read this at the age of 10, and I just finished my most recent return to it last year at the age of 48. Now, I can see where the writers of the show 'Lost' received at least the core of their ideas about the reactions of humans stranded accidentally on a deserted island. Verne has long been known as one of the fathers of the science-fiction genre, but it is the human non-technical flavor to 'Mysterious Island' that left such an indelible mark on my psyche. I heartedly recommend it to all both young and old.

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