Kon-Tiki

I made some Mormons angry over my reviews of books that defend the Book of Mormon, and they have been slamming my reviews. Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks On Kon-Tiki: I absolutely got lost in this magnificent adventure. Nevertheless, Heyerdahl's theory that civilization was spread around the world by some lost white race is simply bogus racism. Still, I enjoyed all his books, including "The Ra Expeditions," and "Aku-Aku." It is sad to think that Heyerdahl's career as a fearless adventurer is marred by his zealous devotion to a dated idea. Yes, Peruvian Indians could have crossed the Pacific, but it is more likely that contact came from the other way. At any rate, Heyerdahl manufactured the archaeological evidence he found on Easter Island. In the July 2002 issue of the "Smithsonian Magazine," Richard Conniff demonstrated that Heyerdahl actually paid the natives to make reed-boats relics (Kon Artist?" was the title). "A good story," said Conniff, "can be so compelling that teller and subject become entrapped together in its charms...." (p. 28). This astute observation could apply to novels claimed to be actual history, and anyone interested in the Book of Mormon should give it long thought. Heyerdahl wrote about Pedro Pate, an Easter Islander and how Pate found a two-masted reed boat in a cave. Conniff wrote: "I showed Pate a two-page photograph of the reed boat from Heyerdahl's book, and he grinned. He'd carved the boat himself, he said. Dubious, I offered him $100 to carve such a boat now, 37 years later, and he accepted." "A few days later, he presented me with the 18-inch-long reed boat he had carved. It was as good as the one in the book" (p. 29). In "The Ancient American Civilizations," Friedrich Katz asked some very hard questions of Heyerdahl's theory. "If the Polynesians really do come from America, why do their chronicles record the exact opposite direction, naming South-East Asia as their place of origin? Why is their language first and foremost related to South-Asiatic and Malayan languages? Finally, as Trimborn remarked, 'Were not the Polynesian Vikings, rather than the Indians, not the sailors who crossed the high seas?'" (p. 18). Heyerdahl should also be criticized for playing word games, selecting a word here and there, but ignoring the whole language. Many linguists criticized this erroneous method of relating two ancient peoples. See Robert Wauchope's magnificent little book, "Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents: Myth and Method in the Study of the American Indians." See my review. Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents Myth Method in the Mormon writers frequently cite Heyerdahl because he proved that ancient voyages across the oceans were possible--an idea going back hundreds of years and not new with Heyerdahl. Very few scholars ever denied that such ancient voyages were possible. But ah, there's the rub, as Hamlet said. If they occurred, what would be the effect on an entrenched native culture? The Book of Mormon has ancient voyages (the Jaredites were supposed have crossed the ocean on a 344-day voyage in eight submarines in about 2,000 BC). It is primarily about the great civilizations the Jaredites and Nephites established in the Americas. Robert Sharer summarizes the modern state of knowledge in his heavy and authoritative book, "The Ancient Maya." Sharer writes: "After more than a century of gathering and analyzing archaeological evidence, we have discovered nothing to support the idea of intervention by people from the Old World." "This is not to say that accidental contacts between the Old and New World peoples could not have occurred before the age of European exploration" (p. 6). "On the basis of the available evidence, then, the courses of cultural development in the New and Old Worlds seem clearly independent of each other and devoid of significant contact until 1492" (intro., p. 7). The ancient Maya civilization, Sharer continues, "are to be `explained' not as a product of transplanted Old World civilization, but as the result of the processes that underlie the growth of any culture, including those that develop the kind of complexity we call civilization." "The idea, which either explicitly or implicitly asserts that the peoples of the New World were incapable of shaping their own destiny or developing sophisticated cultures independently of Old World influence, is still popular in quarters." "But this is but one more popular myth devoid of fact, for the evidence points unmistakably toward the evolution of civilization in the New World independently of developments in the Old World." See Sharer's book and my review. The Ancient Maya, 6th Edition None of these serious criticisms of the claims of Mormons or of Heyerdahl's theories, however, should detract from Heyerdahl's great adventures. His accounts of his raft voyages are breathless and compelling reading. For a masterful telling of Polynesian history (especially about Easter Island) by a scholar with a Moari heritage, read the essential book "Vikings of the Pacific," by Peter H. Buck. Click here to read my review: Vikings of the Pacific

Heyerdahl does more than faithfully describe a 4,000-mile unescorted voyage across the Pacific on a Stone-Age raft. A scientist but not a sailor, he explains what and who convinced him that ancient people executed the same feat. Heyerdahl's text is not a dry logbook, either. Its light-hearted and humorous moments and heart-warming passages are somewhat balanced by moments of heightened danger in excess of the inherent danger in such a voyage where timely rescue was unlikely in the extreme. This reading of _Kon-Tiki_, 50 years after my first as a teenaged bookworm, was far more enjoyable than my first.

I clearly remember reading Kon-Tiki when it was new and I was in High School. I truly wish, sometimes, that I still had that old paperback but it has gone the way of such things. Now I have this new copy, and the adventure is still there. Heyerdahl gives a very thorough overview of the preparations, the voyage itself, and their arrival in Polynesia. In fact, almost too thorough at times. This is why I rated it at only four stars and not five. Still in all, it's one helluva good read, just be prepared for some ramblings at times. Even with these, the book can still take you aboard the raft and carry you along with it. Four stars, yes, but still a very worthwhile book.

I read a kids version in 1963 and thought the story was really neat this obviously goes into more detail and is hard to put down Everything from the political and search for money in the beginning to getting the logs to building the raft. The story of the trip and how they had to learn to sail the raft and their adventures during the trip I found it hard to put down A great read I highly recommend this book.

I haven't seen the Hollywood movie yet, maybe I will in time but I did watch the original documentary after reading the book and was so glad I waited. It never fails the book is sooooo much better than anything they can put on film, even if it's the actual footage of the event that was written of such as the documentary. For example in the documentary you see them trying to make landfall once across the Pacific and then you see them after they're on land. But in the book? Good gosh I about wet myself turning pages not even wanting to stop long enough to get up and take a leak his account of what they went through is downright riveting. I got this on a whim after hearing Alan Watts refer to it in an old talk and so glad I did. It's a great tale and an easy read, I'm not that fast of a reader and got through it in a few sittings. I highly recommend.

Simply put, this is a perfect book for boys or young men (my husband and sons adore it). It is the story of an epic adventure that includes bits of science, history, ecology, survivalism, and pure unadulterated manliness (felling trees and fighting sharks and other sea creatures alone make my boys happy). It is also a great book in the way of writing. Heyerdahl is quick with a figure of speech or classical reference, and the book reads like a classic, itself. Definitely read it for the historical reference--the thought that "this really happened!" occurred to us as we were reading, but also read it for its literary merits. It is one of the all-time classic adventures.

I first read "Kon-Tiki" when I was a young girl. It has stayed with me my whole life. My long-suffering mother allowed me to paint my room with murals of a huge Kon-Tiki head and imagined Polynesian scenes. Heyerdahl's descriptions of the raft's journey are so vivid, I could recall many of them almost word-for-word. I've long wanted to re-read the book, and gave it to myself as a birthday present. While Heyerdahl's theories of migration are still controversial (though recent DNA evidence may be backing him up more than previously believed), and, very unfortunately, there are undeniably racist elements present in both these theories and his depictions of "brown" people (something I did not realize when young and did not remember), the adventure story still is amazing. I don't at all regret the inspiration it gave and gives to live an adventurous, unafraid life..

"it was as though the fresh salt tang in the air, all the blue purity that surrounded us, has washed and cleansed both body and soul. To us on the raft, the great problems of civilized man appeared false and illusory- like perverted products of the human mind. Only the elements mattered. And the elements seem to ignore the little raft. Or perhaps they accepted it as a natural object, which did not break the harmony of the sea but adapted itself to current and sea like bird and fish. Instead of being a fearsome enemy, flinging itself at us, the elements have become a reliable friend which steadily and surely helped us onward. While wind and waves pushed and propelled, the ocean current lay under us and pulled, straight toward our goal.” The passage is from ‘Kon Tiki- Across the Pacific by Raft’, a journal on the epic voyage on a wood raft across the deep and desolate ocean in 1947. In their attempt to prove a theory that Pacific Islands of Polynesia were first colonised by forgotten seafarers from South America, six hardy Scandinavian men led by Thor Heyerdahl, starting from Lima, Peru, rode a million ocean swells across the unchartered waters of Pacific only to crash their flimsy raft on a Polynesian atoll. It took them a hundred and one days sailing seven thousand kilometres and all six survived to tell the tale. While his theories did not survive him, Thor Heyerdahl’s book is a classic that talks of the sinewy adventures of a simpler age that passed, and the reflections of those men who endured.

Great book. I am really enjoying this journey. It is full with details. It seems a fantastic story in some aspects, but very impressive that it was all done half a century back!

Good readable pocket book, it was a great adventure

I loved this book. A real story, wonderfully written and the antithesis of our "reality TV" world. Recalling my balsa wood models of this raft made at school, I had to see the film when it arrived here, and afterwards the book. The temptation to compare the two is strong, but I'll concentrate on the book. Heyerdahl made observations of the natural world and it's human inhabitants in the South Sea Islands and came to a conclusion regarding their origins. No-one among the accepted authorities of the time believed him. It was a matter of principle and he set out to prove it, resting on a theory. The book reveals the preparations taken, the huge difficulties he and his crew had to overcome just to get the logs to the shore, and the exceptional journey which followed. The style remains stoically factual and innocent, uncluttered with petty thoughts and personal issues. He set out to document what happened, as did his colleagues with their notes and diaries, photos and film. They carried out some scientific research and tested equipment, using their time as usefully as possible. The attention to detail is balanced with overview and anecdote. The text remains lively and involves the reader in the expedition. On the way we all learn something, perhaps more than we expect to. The simplicity of their life at sea, pursuing a single goal, uncluttered, for entertainment just books and a guitar, barely in contact by radio with civilisation, but fundamentally in contact with the natural world. On one solitary item one could argue that our modern society has advanced: some of us no longer regard sharks as "bad" or as disposable commodities, but confronted with death every day, I think anyone would probably consider them at least for the duration of the voyage as an enemy. Otherwise the respect for life and living things is pervasive throughout. Of all Heyedahl's exceptional achievements, his deep understanding of and commitment to the origins of humanity impressed me the most. If a good book transports you to another world, allows you to reflect on aspects which you never have time for, learn new things, be uplifted and exhilarated, to yearn for a different experience, different skills and courage, then this book succeeds.

Great read

Un libro genial con un aporte muy importante en expediciones a la Polinesia. Excelente libro para los aventureros y amantes de las culturas precolombinas.