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
Home Game (novel) Home Game (novel) Home Game is a novel by Paul Quarrington, published in 1983 by Doubleday Canada. The novel's central character is Nathaniel Isbister, a former professional baseball player turned drifter. Coming across a town dominated primarily by a religious cult called the House of Jonah, he is ultimately called upon to lead the town's only other residents, a ragtag band of circus freaks, in a high-stakes baseball game to determine which of the two groups will be forced to pack up and leave town. The novel was a shortlisted finalist for the Stephen Leacock Award in 1984. Following Quarrington's