Monday, September 22, 2014

Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl

"Am going to cross Pacific on a wooden raft to support a theory that the South Sea islands were peopled from Peru. Will you come?...Reply at once." That is how six brave & inquisitive men came to seek a dangerous path to test a scientific theory.
On a primitive raft made of 40' balsa logs & named Kon-Tiki in honor of a legendary sun king, Heyerdahl & five companions deliberately risked their lives to show that the ancient Peruvians could have made the 4300-mile voyage to the Polynesian islands on similar craft.
Life on the raft was strange & wonderful. Perhaps the most amazing part of the whole voyage was that not once during the 101 days were the men bored. The always present danger of storms (& the storms themselves), the eternal, ever-changing sea & sky, & their own ingenuity took care of that. & the huge company of fish. They encountered the rare whale shark--"Walt Disney, with all his powers of imagination, could not have created a more hair-raising monster"--& they were the 1st men ever to see a live snake mackerel.
On every page of this true record--from the actual building of the raft thru all the dangerous & comic adventures on the sea to the spectacular crash-landing & the native islanders' hula dances--each reader will find a wholesome & spellbinding escape from the 20th century.
From Goodreads.


This was quite interesting, all of it. The whole preparation, the trip itself and the end of the trip. Thor Heyerdahl and his companions survived an impossible trip. I am impressed by this undertaking. Now I want to watch the film.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
Crazy Challenge Connection - Oktoberfest
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Play Jeopardy!
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

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