Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle far away from civilization? Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers none of which equal the power and originality of Defoes famous book. Robinson Crusoe set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea is forced to make do with only a knife some tobacco and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe make bread and endure endless solitude. That is until twenty-four years later when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719 Robinson Crusoe has been praised by such writers as James Joyce Virginia Woolf and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English language.