Take a globe and spin it until the side that faces you is largely blue. You are now staring into the Pacific Ocean, in all its daunting immensity. Now stab your finger into its heart. Down a bit. Right a bit. You are now prodding the Line Islands, a linear constellation of eleven tiny land masses, slashing their way through the middle of nowhere. Around 3,500 miles from California, 3,800 miles from Australia, and 4,900 miles from Japan, the Line Islands epitomise isolation. They are about as far away from anything else as you can get without leaving the planet. That is how far Forest Rohwer
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