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Kon-Tiki
0Authors : Thor Heyerdahl
ISBN10 : 0671726528 ISBN13 : 9780671726522
Genres : Nonfiction,Travel,Adventure,History,Classics,Biography,Autobiography,Memoir,Anthropology,Science
Language: English
4.14
/5
Paperback, 240 pages
Published May 1st 1990 by Rand McNally
Description
is the record of an astonishing adventure -- a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by a mythical ......more
is the record of an astonishing adventure -- a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by a mythical hero, Kon-Tiki. He decided to prove his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage.
On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed from Peru on a balsa log raft. After three months on the open sea, encountering raging storms, whales, and sharks, they sighted land -- the Polynesian island of Puka Puka.
Translated into sixty-five languages, Kon-Tiki is a classic, inspiring tale of daring and courage -- a magnificent saga of men against the sea.
Washington Square Press' Enriched Classics present the great works of world literature enhanced for the contemporary reader. This edition of
has been prepared by an editorial committee headed by Harry Shefter, professor of English at New York University. It includes a foreword by the author, a selection of critical excerpts, notes, an index, and a unique visual essay of the voyage.(less)
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About the author(Thor Heyerdahl)
See also
.
Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 4,300 ......more
See also
.
Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 4,300 miles (8,000 km) by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. All his legendary expeditions are shown in the Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo.
Thor Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, the son of master brewer Thor Heyerdahl and his wife Alison Lyng. As a young child, Thor Heyerdahl showed a strong interest in zoology. He created a small museum in his childhood home, with a Vipera berus as the main attraction. He studied Zoology and Geography at University of Oslo. At the
See also
.
Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 4,300 miles (8,000 km) by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. All his legendary expeditions are shown in the Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo.
Thor Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, the son of master brewer Thor Heyerdahl and his wife Alison Lyng. As a young child, Thor Heyerdahl showed a strong interest in zoology. He created a small museum in his childhood home, with a Vipera berus as the main attraction. He studied Zoology and Geography at University of Oslo. At the same time, he privately studied Polynesian culture and history, consulting what was then the world's largest private collection of books and papers on Polynesia, owned by Bjarne Kropelien, a wealthy wine merchant in Oslo. This collection was later purchased by the University of Oslo Library from Kropelien's heirs and was attached to the Kon-Tiki Museum research department. After seven terms and consultations with experts in Berlin, a project was developed and sponsored by his zoology professors, Kristine Bonnevie and Hjalmar Broch. He was to visit some isolated Pacific island groups and study how the local animals had found their way there. Just before sailing together to the Marquesas Islands in 1936, he married his first wife, Liv Coucheron-Torp (b. 1916), whom he had met shortly before enrolling at the University, and who had studied economics there. Though she is conspicuously absent from many of his papers and talks, Liv participated in nearly all of Thor's journeys, with the exception of the Kon-Tiki Expedition. The couple had two sons; Thor Jr and Bjørn. The marriage ended in divorce and in 1949 Thor Heyerdahl married Yvonne Dedekam-Simonsen. They in turn had three daughters; Annette, Marian and Helene Elisabeth. This marriage also ended in divorce, in 1969. In 1991 Thor Heyerdahl married for the third time, to Jacqueline Beer (b. 1932).
Thor Heyerdahl's grandson, Olav Heyerdahl, retraced his grandfather's Kon-Tiki voyage in 2006, as part of a six-member crew. The voyage, called the Tangaroa Expedition, was intended as a tribute to Thor Heyerdahl, as well as a means to monitor the Pacific Ocean's environment. A film about the voyage is in preparation. (less)
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Every Norwegian family we knew had a copy of this book on their shelves. I read it with much familial encouragement at an early age, mostly as a travel adventure, which it is, and not so much with any regard for the scientific hypothesis the author was testing. Aku-Aku followed soon thereafter.
...more
Every Norwegian family we knew had a copy of this book on their shelves. I read it with much familial encouragement at an early age, mostly as a travel adventure, which it is, and not so much with any regard for the scientific hypothesis the author was testing. Aku-Aku followed soon thereafter.
In 1978, in the summer following seminary graduation, I was invited by mother to visit her in Oslo before moving from New York City back to Chicago. It was a great trip filled with many memorable events. One of them was revisiting the Kon-Tiki Museum there which I hadn't seen since the last time in Oslo at age ten. In the parking lot who should be standing there but Thor Heyerdahl himself? Although he was talking to another man, Mother interrupted them as if she knew him to introduce me to the great man as her son. Polite nothings were exchanged. He was very, very tall.
Did she know him? It's a small country.
Mom did know the former prime minister, Gro Harlam Brundtland, and once, walking down Karljohan, Oslo' main drag, with her boyfriend, she recognized, but couldn't exactly place, the portly gentleman walking his dogs in front of them--someone from Chicago, she thought. Anyway, she broke away from Egil, the boyfriend, and darted up to the old fellow, saying she recognized him, but, sadly, couldn't remember his name. "Perhaps, Madam, it is because I am your king," Kong Olav replied.
(less)
We had a power outage with a winter storm the other day so I looked around my bookshelves and came across a book I was fascinated with many years ago and decided to read it again. The book is Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. The hardcover book I have was published in 1950. It was given to me by my mother......more
We had a power outage with a winter storm the other day so I looked around my bookshelves and came across a book I was fascinated with many years ago and decided to read it again. The book is Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. The hardcover book I have was published in 1950. It was given to me by my mother for my birthday in 1950. I read this book at least twice a year in the fifties and sixties, but somehow it got put aside. This book is one of the key items that helped me decide on a career in the sciences with secondary interest in archaeology and anthropology. Of course, early on I studied primarily marine sciences and biology.
The book is well written with lots of photographs. The voyage of the Kon-Tiki took place in 1947. The part I liked best was the descriptions of the sea life that came around the raft. This time I was more intrigued with how the raft functioned and how the ancient people of Peru came about to design it in a certain way and why they chose the certain woods they used. Many times, after reading a book that I had enjoyed, I no longer like it and wonder what I saw in it. But that is not the case with this book. I was as fascinated with my current reading as I was back in the 1950s. I did note that they saw no garbage and no plastics floating in the water. Today that is a big problem when sailing the oceans. If you are looking for a different adventure, give this book a try.
I read this as a hardcover book that is 308 pages. Published in 1950 by Rand McNally & Company.(less)
Is there a greater classic among adventure books than the reckless Thor Heyerdahl’s story about a 104 day long raft ride through the Pacific in 1947? It is just as crazy as it is heroic and makes your jaw drop everytime. The 6 men fighting the elements on a hand-made balsa wood vesel are at the merc......more
Is there a greater classic among adventure books than the reckless Thor Heyerdahl’s story about a 104 day long raft ride through the Pacific in 1947? It is just as crazy as it is heroic and makes your jaw drop everytime. The 6 men fighting the elements on a hand-made balsa wood vesel are at the mercy of the acient Gods of South America and the Pacific. Encounters with wonderful Verne-like creatures of the sea bring the Pacific to life. Squids and giant sharks are right under your feet, fish and octopus fly into your face daily. You just have to put your toothbrush in the water and a fish bites on it vehemently. Myths accompany the Scandinavian crew all the way, it’s an uplifting tale of a pursuit of dreams. Mandatory for armchair explorers. I am prepared to fight everyone who says it’s a children’s book.(less)
WOW!!! This book was recommended to me back in the 1950s by my favorite teacher, Mr. Bailey, who ttaught 8th grade in Paso Robles, CA. I remember going to the Paso Robles library and handling the book back then, but never reading it until now. It took me this long to become interested in seafaring s......more
WOW!!! This book was recommended to me back in the 1950s by my favorite teacher, Mr. Bailey, who ttaught 8th grade in Paso Robles, CA. I remember going to the Paso Robles library and handling the book back then, but never reading it until now. It took me this long to become interested in seafaring stories. My first one was "The Wreck of the Mary Deare, which made me realize that books about the sea can be very entertaining. This book tops all.(less)
Read this one a long long time ago. Heyerdahl was hero then. I wanted to go to the islands, too.
Subsequently revised my perception of Thor credibility, but remained interested in ancient sea travel.
***
Fascinated by earliest watercraft. Believe they were much more ......more
Read this one a long long time ago. Heyerdahl was hero then. I wanted to go to the islands, too.
Subsequently revised my perception of Thor credibility, but remained interested in ancient sea travel.
***
Fascinated by earliest watercraft. Believe they were much more useful to earliest humans than taught in schools, as Sapiens explored and settled the world. Here's link about 'rafts.'
quoting Wiki - "The antiquity of the use of sea-going rafts by the people of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts has not been established as ancient balsa wood rafts have left few archaeological traces, but it appears that a maritime trading system from southern Colombia to northern Chile was established by about 100 BCE."
"The sudden adoption of metallurgy in the civilizations of Mexico about 800 CE has led archaeologists to conclude that the technology was introduced, most likely by sea-going rafts, from the Ecuadorian coast of South America where metallurgy had been practiced for hundreds of years. Later advances in metallurgy in Mexico after 1200 CE resembled the metallurgy of the Chincha in Peru."
***
Tried Heyerdahl's "Early Man and the Ocean." Quite disappointed by his beliefs. Four stars seems generous now for Kon-Tiki.(less)
This was one of my boyhood books that inspired me to be adventurous, to think the unthinkable, to push beyond the usual.
This was one of my boyhood books that inspired me to be adventurous, to think the unthinkable, to push beyond the usual.(less)
A crazy man with a migration theory tries to convince his Scandinavian buddies to float across the Pacific with him on a balsa wood raft in order to give credence to the theory. As they value adventure more than their lives, they are persuaded to join.
Follow his trail from t......more
A crazy man with a migration theory tries to convince his Scandinavian buddies to float across the Pacific with him on a balsa wood raft in order to give credence to the theory. As they value adventure more than their lives, they are persuaded to join.
Follow his trail from the conception of the theory to the felling of the balsa wood trees, and from the launching of the craft to its disastrous landing on a fragile South Pacific island.
This is the story of Thor Heyerdahl's original voyage. He would later go on to write a large tome about his ideas (probably not available at you local library) and build and test several other primitive watercraft to prove that people could have gone from here to there in vessels you would probably trust less than a rubber raft.(less)
still one of the great epics of sea faring told by the really last viking. every time in Oslo i pay respect and go and sea the akon Tiki
still one of the great epics of sea faring told by the really last viking. every time in Oslo i pay respect and go and sea the akon Tiki(less)
The years haven't been kind to Thor Heyerdahl's thesis that Polynesia was first colonized by people from South America. Genetic, linguistic, and other lines of evidence suggest that the old, common sense assumption is true: the earliest human inhabitants of these islands migrated from Asia.
...more
The years haven't been kind to Thor Heyerdahl's thesis that Polynesia was first colonized by people from South America. Genetic, linguistic, and other lines of evidence suggest that the old, common sense assumption is true: the earliest human inhabitants of these islands migrated from Asia.
To his dying day, Heyerdahl refused to acknowledge any of the emerging evidence that contradicted his theory. It was a classic example of "belief perseverance," and a cautionary tale about the dangers of becoming too attached to your own theories.
Nevertheless, I'd argue that Heyerdahl did make an important contribution. The knee jerk objection to his theory was that Polynesia is much closer to Asia than South America, and that ancient South Americans never developed nautical technology sufficient to traverse that vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Heyerdahl proved not only that they could have done it, but that they could have done it rather easily.
He proved it by the most practical and definitive means possible. He built a balsa wood raft bound together with vines, on the model of vessels ancient Peruvians are known to have possessed. Then he sailed this craft, the famous
, from Peru to the Tuamotus Archipelago of Polynesia.
The voyage took 101 days. The Humbolt current provided most of the propulsion. There was no danger of starvation: fish literally leap up from the water to the deck to be harvested. Heyerdahl’s theory might have been wrong. But the most common objection to it was clearly wrong too.
Moreover, why did it have to be one or the other? Maybe ancient South Americans as well as Asians crossed the Pacific. Given the demonstrable ease with which they could have, it seems probable that occasionally they did—if only by accident, as a consequence of being driven off course by storms and caught in the westward flowing ocean currents. Even if native Polynesians are overwhelmingly of Asian descent, it doesn’t follow that they must be entirely of Asian descent. It’s possible that ancient South American explorers did leave a faint genetic and cultural mark on Polynesia. Heyerdahl’s theory might yet contain elements of truth.
Whatever the case,
is a thrilling story of true adventure. Thor Heyerdahl’s willingness to challenge conventional opinion no less than brave the hazards of the open Pacific makes for a most inspiring protagonist. Everyone with the slightest interest in anthropology or exploration should read this wonderful book.(less)
I don't think i've ever had much respect for explorer/adventurer types. I’m not saying thats a good thing it just is. There always seems like it took a lot of people to get the one or two you’ve heard of where they wanted to go. Plus the use of natives for african/mountain expeditions is practically......more
I don't think i've ever had much respect for explorer/adventurer types. I’m not saying thats a good thing it just is. There always seems like it took a lot of people to get the one or two you’ve heard of where they wanted to go. Plus the use of natives for african/mountain expeditions is practically cheating ;) . Even with the arctic expeditions lets face it the huskies were doing most of the heavy lifting :P .
Anyway... these guys i can respect... because they’re idiots! I mean, not only no natives who might know what they’re doing but they don’t even have any sailors at all on they’re experimental sea voyage. Just 6 crazy scandanavians on a type of raft that hasn’t been used for hundreds of years.
I love that this is experimental archeaology, and as always with that, they learn a lot of interesting stuff no one knew before.
The writing is far better than i expected too. For non-fiction it has aquite a flourish to it at times. Some of the incidents might be a little truncated compared to what you might get in a hollywoodized version but its still very compelling.
In fact i havn’t read anything which made the oceans sound this interesting since Verne and 20,000 Leagues... except this is real!
For long stretches it seems like this was far easier a voyage than you might expect but then here and there you realise just how close it all came to disaster. I also reallu like how much science stuff was being done onboard, testing different things, sending data to various institutes etc.
Its like a space mission at times, in more ways than one, as it soon becomes apparent that the raft can’t be turned araound or even slowed, so anything thing (or anyone) that goes overboard is just going to drift away with no chance of rescue, very space like.
Due to how well its written i was already on 4 stars, then raised it to 5 due to all the info i was getting i hadn’t heard before. And that was even before many of the really compelling incidents occurred so absolutely 5 stars.
PS. They don't eat any Dolphins. They keep referring to the Doradoe, aka Mahi Mahi, aka the dolphinfish as a Dolpin, that was annoying, its just a fish :lol . Although they are pretty beligerant to some of the other aquatic life, but not Dolphins!
Edit: New research might support Thor's theory
.(less)