An interesting idea and a harrowing adventure story in which we follow a Norwegian biologist who has the ballsy idea to build a seaworthy raft and sail it over 4,000 miles in the Pacific, in order to prove that the Polynesian islands were settled by South Americans. Further research and DNA studies have since proven this theory to be false, (I highly suggest doing further research on this topic and not taking what’s written in this book as fact, cause it definitely isn’t). While an entertaining read, I have too many issues with this book to rate it any higher than 2 stars.

First, I was super uncomfortable with the author’s racist depictions of indigenous peoples in both his descriptions of Peruvians and Polynesians and his insistence on his theory of a white race of red bearded men spreading knowledge and wisdom to the ignorant South Americans and Pacific Islanders. Because of course it’s impossible for ancient indigenous peoples to be smart enough to develop civilizations, build seafaring crafts or have the technical skills to navigate without the intervention of the all knowing white man. Ugh!!

Also, indiscriminately killing sharks and spearing sea life just for the hell of it does not make me like you as a person. In fact it makes me want to smack you and root for you to fall overboard so the shark can get its comeuppance. Mind you they weren’t killing sharks for survival, they had plenty of food, and fish literally threw themselves on board their raft. This seemed more like cruel sport rather than stemming from any sort of need.

Basically, I’m just tired of white men thinking that ancient indigenous civilizations couldn’t possibly have developed on their own without outside assistance, whether that’s red bearded white dudes or alien’s with a passion for building pyramids.

One of the most fascinating adventures I have ever read about. I now have a new fascination with the Polynesian Islands and am looking forward to devouring more of Heyerdahl's writings.

What a great book. It has very simple and straight-forward writing, but the events he describes are amazing.

In order to give credence to his theory that the Polynesian islands were settled by a lost tribe from Peru, Thor Heyerdahl recreated the journey on his own primitive raft. He and five companions spent three months on the open seas letting current and wind direct their course.

Along the way, they had several interesting encounters with all manner of sea life. The simple descriptions made it easy to imagine what life was like on the raft.

I do love a good adventure/ travel story, so when I saw this in a secondhand book shop I thought - why would I not read the book that as far as I can tell, arguably started the modern version of 'person goes on crazy adventure and writes about it'?

I am... ambivalent, now, having read it. Basically one part positive, two parts negative.

Positive: it really is a riveting story. Six men in 1947 on a balsa wood raft, sailing from Peru to Polynesia. They have a radio and a sextant, and modern clothes and sleeping bags; but their raft is genuinely balsa wood, held together with rope. They have no particularly good way to steer. It's made (apparently) as accurately as they could to match the descriptions from Spanish conquerors to the area. They truly have remarkable experiences, and they went 100-odd days crossing the Pacific. That is epic, as are their encounters with a whale shark, various other wildlife, storms, and just life in general. For that aspect, I don't regret reading it.

The negatives... well. To start with the journey itself - no, even before. The description of cutting down massive old balsa trees for the construction of the raft had me cringing. Then there's the seemingly-wanton 'fishing' while they're at sea: they're hooking and killing far more shark and other fish than they eat, which is just awful. (It is kind of hilarious to read of the flying fish just randomly landing on the boat, I will admit, and eating those makes sense - especially when they've been piling up throughout the night.) Also, Thor at least is married and... in the entire book, no mention of the wife. Ever. Not even before the journey, when he's in America trying to convince people of his theories.

And, yes, here's the rub, the sticking point, the main problem. Thor goes on this journey to show that it would have been possible for humans to sail from South America to Polynesia, and thereby be the progenitors of at least some of the people living in those islands, and therefore responsible for the impressive statues and pyramids and other 'advanced' things that can be found on some islands. But not the Inca, oh no, and not the Olmec, or anyone else you might have heard of: rather, it was a white, bearded race who apparently came before the Inca. And were more civilised, and taught them everything and then got chased off. So... yeah. His entire premise is deeply, deeply racist. This also comes out in descriptions of the Polynesians and others. I'm privileged because I'm white; if a person of native South American - anywhere on that continent - or Polynesian or, I'm afraid, Jewish descent said they were thinking of reading this, I would want to have a good long conversation with them so that they knew what they were getting into. This absolutely means the entire book is problematic, and being a ripping adventure yarn in no way excuses it. It is written in 1947, which offers some context for why Heyerdahl thought it was appropriate to write such things and the publishers apparently had no problem with it - hey, no Polynesian is likely to read it, amiright? and why would they complain even if they did? etc.

Did it have fun bits to read? Totally. Is the book problematic? Absolutely. Did I buy the other two books he wrote, to try and show that Egyptians AND Mesopotamians got to South America by boat? I absolutely did and fully intend to read them to rip the theories to shreds.

It was a 5 star adventure, but the author failed a bit to transmit the effort I guess it took. He probably wanted to make it look easy to prove his theory but I guess it as far from that.

Ever since I first read mention of the Kon-Tiki expedition in Peter Fruechen's Book of the Seven Seas waaaaaay back in middle school, I was curious to get my hands on Thor Heyerdahl's account of that voyage. Setting out with the intention of proving that ancient South Americans could have crossed the the Pacific to Polynesia on balsa rafts, the tale is grounded in dubious science. Whether or not Heyerdahl's theories hold up, the story is still a delight to read. His descriptions of his crewmates' mishaps and their struggles to adapt to life afloat made me laugh out loud more than once. Any book that manages to do that gets an automatic 4 stars from me. The 5th is because when I finished, I felt like I'd been on an adventure, and isn't that kind of the point?

Four Stars: I really liked it.

I have an old copy of this book that belonged to my dad and had the wonderful chance to read it at the start of this year. It is a story about six men who traveled on a raft from Peru to the Polynesian islands to prove that was how the founding islanders had traveled and arrived there. It is a full account from how the author first came up with the idea, how the companions were chosen, the events surrounding building the boat, the voyage, how they spent their time, the logistics, and the conclusion. It also has quite a nice collection of pictures from the actual voyage which helps you visualize the journey along with the story.

One of my favorite passages:
"Coal-black seas towered up on all sides, and a glittering myriad of tropical stars drew a faint reflection from plankton in the water. The world was simple - stars in the darkness. Whether it was 1947 B.C. or A.D. suddenly became of no significance. We lived, and that we felt with alert intensity. We realized that life had been full for men before the technical age also - in fact, fuller and richer in many ways than the life of modern man. Time and evolution somehow ceased to exist; all that was real and that mattered were the same today as they had always been and would always be. We were swallowed up in the absolute common measure of history - endless unbroken darkness under a swarm of stars."

Enthralling adventure nonfiction. As written, it is unrelentingly optimistic. No wood of the right kind available? Drive into the jungle in the wet season and find it, obviously. Every obstacle is cheerfully overcome. I wonder if the US army, diplomats, and various heads of state would be as cooperative today as they were to this outfit in 1947?