In 1947, scientist Thor Heyerdahl and five other explorers sailed from Peru to Polynesia 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean on a balsa log raft in order to prove that it was possible that Polynesia was settled by a pre-Columbian people travelling the same way. The prevalent scientific opinion at that time was that it had been settled from the west, but Heyerdahl was convinced that he was right and built the raft only with materials that this ancient culture would have also used and in the same way they would have.
This pretty much reads like an adventure novel, except that there are short digressions into marine biology and ancient South American and Polynesian history and culture as they relate to Heyerdahl’s theories; otherwise it’s a straightforward narration of the problems they faced trying to get the project off the ground, the journey itself, and the arrival in Tahiti. The tone of the book is light overall and there are a lot of humorous vignettes, so you never think they are really in trouble, even when a big storm hits them or a whale shark won’t leave them alone. What was missing for me was the human element, because I felt that I didn’t get to know Heyerdahl and his fellow explorers at all. It’s like none of them even has a personality and they all seem to get along really well all the time and I can’t believe that this is possible when you are trapped on a small raft for more than three months in the middle of an ocean.
As a reader you quickly become aware of the time period this was written in, because a lot of the attitudes towards and interactions with native people in South America and Polynesia clearly display the racism that was the norm then. Heyerdahl insistently argues that the people that left Peru and accomplished this great feat of crossing the ocean were “white with red hair” which also plays into this, not because it couldn’t be true (he cites some evidence for this) but to me it felt like he was putting down all other people.
In general I would have appreciated a little more science, for instance more information regarding the respective cultures and the state of research on them at the time. In the beginning Heyerdahl makes it clear that the scientific community thinks that his theories are wrong, so what happened when he proved that his assumptions were at the least possible? It’s a fun read and what they accomplished is amazing, but the book itself left me wanting.