Desert island Autodidactus" inspired Robert Boyle, an acquaintance of Pococke, to write his own philosophical novel set on a deserted island, "The Aspiring Naturalist". Ibn al-Nafis' "Theologus Autodidactus" was also eventually translated into English in the early 20th century. Published in 1719, Daniel Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe" about a castaway on a desert island has spawned so many imitations in film, television and radio that its name was used to define a genre, Robinsonade. The novel features Man Friday, Crusoe's personal assistant. It is likely that Defoe took inspiration for Crusoe from a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk, who was rescued in
The Island of the Mighty the blow that was struck against him. He kills Goronwy with his spear, which is thrown so hard it pierces him through the stone he is hiding behind. The Island of the Mighty The Island of the Mighty is a fantasy novel by Evangeline Walton, the earliest in a series of four based on the Welsh "Mabinogion." It was first published in 1936 under the publisher's title of "The Virgin and the Swine". Although it received warm praise from John Cowper Powys, the book sold poorly, and as a result none of the other novels in the series reached print