Isolated Wonder: A Scientist in the Robinson Crusoe Islands. 2024. illus. 312 p. Paper bd.

An exploration of the Robinson Crusoe Islands, a national park of Chile located more than four hundred miles west of the South American continent.

The classic novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was based on the true adventures of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who lived isolated in these islands from 1704 to 1709. There exist unique flowering plants and ferns that stimulate scientific questions: How and when did these plants arrive in the archipelago? What processes of evolution occurred after they colonized?

Botanists on twelve expeditions over forty years from Ohio State University, University of Concepción, University of Vienna, and other institutions have revealed secrets of this unique plant world through numerous scientific publications. Isolated Wonder explains clearly and honestly the challenges of doing fieldwork on these islands, the excitements, the disappointments, and how research can dramatically impact personal lives, and vice versa. This book provides informative and entertaining insights into what happens on botanical expeditions in an isolated region of the world.