Islands of Good and Evil — A Journey of Discovery
Islands hold up a mirror to humankind and society in this thrilling exploration
The Scottish define an island as a piece of rock with a year’s grazing for a sheep, but however you define it, an island is the world in miniature. It is the ideal place to start a utopian society, a conduit to dreams of perfection, a clearly-defined space, and the prospect of an undisturbed life, away from the flock.
Many writers and filmmakers have built on this concept, think of Robinson Crusoe or Jurassic Park. Atlantis was a fictional island invented by Plato as an allegory and Thomas More’s Utopia was also a famous thought experiment. For scientists, islands offer a simplified version of the natural world and the ideal site for experiments. Yet they also invite abuse: where else to trial megalomaniac plans or unleash poisonous concoctions? This book brings together the two extremes, both good and evil.
In The Islands of Good and Evil, Adwin de Kluyver brings history alive: from Aristotle who was banished from Athens and lived on Lesbos, studying its plants and animals, to Alfred Russell Wallace who developed his theory of evolution on Ternate in 1858. And from a German couple’s plans which famously ended in tragedy in the Galapagos Islands in the 1930s, to Richard Stanley’s film adaptation of HG Well’s The Island of Dr. Moreau on Cape Tribulation in Australia, beset by disaster, ended with an ironic twist.
In an infectious mix of travelogue and history, De Kluyver tells of philosophers and fantasists, scientists, tricksters, and dreamers turned murderers. He takes the reader to 63 islands, one temporary island and one notational one, all of scientific, political or cultural importance. A compelling journey, from Pitcairn to Paradise Island, filled with sweeping vistas and visions of the future and the past.
The author employs a different narrative technique in each chapter
Rave reviews in all the main press and magazines
n Islands featured from all corners of the globe, from Great Britain, to Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Argentina, Norway and North America
There’s a non-existent island called Null Island at 0 degrees longitude and latitude which is essential for our geolocation systems
Rights
Orli Naamani
orli.naamani@lannoomeulenhoff.nl
“Everything in the book is fascinating: the explorers, the idealists dreaming of a new society, the millionaires who want their own little world, convicts, scholars who want to experiment undisturbed, and of course the original inhabitants: everyone is given a place, a voice and a meaning. Everything is wondrous, everything is exciting.”
