Those of us who are inclined toward bibliophilia inevitably get asked what book they would want to have with them if stranded on a desert island. It is, in essence, a roundabout way of asking a bookish person which of the many books they’ve read would remain enjoyable if it was the only thing to read for an indeterminate period of time. Faced now with the prospect of a mountain of free time surrounded by walls of books, the imagination scrambles for the exit, and suddenly, the idea of being stranded on a desert island begins to sound appealing.

It is perhaps not surprising that one of the first destinations to which the fictive mind ventured was a desert island—the most famous example of which is Robinson Crusoe. DeFoe's immortal creation, himself a composite of numerous popular shipwreck narratives, spawned its very own species of literature—the Robinsonade. And, like Crusoe, whether we find ourselves transported to the Moon or Mars, Wonderland or Oz, we will leave the experience transformed in some way.