Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft

by Thor Heyerdahl

Release Date: 01 May, 1990

Edition: Mass Market Paperback

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An eye opener to a lost age of adventure

This is an immensely inspiring account of human adventure and perseverance. It sets man against sea, thin odds against practical ingenuity, conventional academic thought against the independent thinker. This four thousand mile journey across barren, treacherous seas can't help but inspire the would-be adventurer. The adventurers' single mindedness and determination, in the face of naysaying world experts (who said they would never succeed, and that their boat would sink at mid-sea), shows how determination and perseverance can lead to accomplishing what some may view as impossible goals, and in so doing it pushes the boundaries and commonplace notions of what is possible. We see that not all adventurous fools and are so foolish; that determination can see one across a massive barren and stormy ocean, real or metaphorical. On completing the book, all that remains is for the reader to respond to its call for adventure and begin plans for achieving personal goals or adventures ... all the tools needed for accomplishment are demonstrated in this voyage. In a corporate world where too often money is the primary force in leading us to act, where the value of an activity is measured by its potential financial payback, it is refreshing to be reminded of other motivations for action, and of other rewards. Can this book reawaken a spirit of adventure which may seem irrelevant to modern social or commercial life? Can it remind us how to dream and the virtues of following our dreams? I am reminded in these pages how, why, and where I can find adventure ... one walks away from the book convinced that anything is possible, should I choose to look beyond conventional thought or lifestyle and reach for the stars.

True Fiction

The events that occur in the book I read, Kon-Tiki, seem so fantastic and unbelievable that if you didn't know any better, you'd swear they were made up. It is a book written by a world-renowned archeologist, Thor Heydrahl, about his real-life adventure. To prove his theory that a long-extinct race in South America was actually descended from a people that came from, and then later returned to Polynesia, Heydrahl set out on a remarkable journey. He, along with five others, made a raft out of balsa logs, and without using metal of any form, sailed thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. Their adventures and struggles, both on and off the raft, combine to make an incredible tale of knowledge, bravery, and luck.