Rating: 
Summary: A foolish adventure, a remarkable accomplishment
Review: Early in "Kon-Tiki," as Thor Heyerdahl and his compatriots are a assembling make-shift raft to float across the Pacific, a government official calls Heyerdahl to his office."Are your parents living?" the official asks. Yes, says Heyerdahl. "Your mother and father will be very grieved when they hear of your death," says the official. It was a reasonable assumption. What Heyerdahl and his five Norwegian friends were proposing was beyond audacious -- it was foolhardy, by any standard. Here were six young men, none with sailing experience, who were building their own Inca-style raft out of balsa logs and hemp ropes and planning to sail it across thousands of miles of ocean from Peru to the South Seas. Surely, they would die. Of course, they didn't. For over 100 days, the Kon-Tiki bobbed along like a cork in high and low seas making slow but steady progress before eventually landing the men on an island in French Polynesia. In doing so, Heyerdahl, an anthropologist, had made his case that it was possible that the South Sea islands had been populated by immigrants floating on rafts from South America. It was a remarkable accomplishment, and while it is a tale imperfectly told, "Kon-Tiki" is quite worth reading. This is a book where the events carry the writing. For the most part, Heyerdahl does an able job of presenting the story, but he curiously skips over some parts. For instance, he doesn't explain clearly why he allowed the voyage to begin by having the Kon-Tiki towed out of port and many miles out to sea. After all, wasn't the point of the expedition to show that the raft could make it all the way on its own? (There may have been a good reason -- perhaps to avoid shipping traffic -- but he doesn't say what it is.) Because the trip actually turned out to be easier than expected, the middle section becomes somewhat flat. The crew had plenty of fish to eat, and collected rain water to drink. They found ways to make the craft easy to steer. Also, while Heyerdahl is detailed in his descriptions of the fish they saw while crossing the ocean, he fails to illuminate the personalities of his five crewmates. Even by the end of the book, they remained indistiguishable in my mind. These are weaknesses, yes, but hardly fatal ones, and the overall boldness of this adventure is what carries this book. There are exciting moments -- when one of the men falls overboard and is nearly lost, and when the Kon-Tiki dramatically crashes into a reef at the end of its voyage. And the crew's short stay on an island inhabited by just 127 villagers is memorable for its idyllic picture of the South Seas lifestyle.
Rating: 
Summary: ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS
Review: Every time I read this book I'm sorry to see it end. Read FATU HIVA, the story of Thor's adventures in Polynesia as a young man. This is a great adventure, one that I would have loved to have made.
Rating:
Summary: A spellbinding chronicle of amazing human achievement.
Review: Few, if any, authors can claim the same realism and drive that Heyerdahl accomplishes in Kon-Tiki. It is a story of a journey of unparalleled magnitude and importance. Eight men in a balsa log raft against 4,000 miles of the blue unknown. Simply put, a spellbinding chronicle of amazing human acheivement, the like of which will not soon be equaled.
Rating:
Summary: A spellbinding chronicle of amazing human achievement.
Review: Few, if any, authors can claim the same realism and drive that Heyerdahl accomplishes in Kon-Tiki. It is a story of a journey of unparalleled magnitude and importance. Six men in a balsa log raft against 4,000 miles of the blue unknown. Simply put, a spellbinding chronicle of amazing human acheivement, the like of which will not soon be equaled.
Rating:
Summary: Lunatic Real Life Adventure, Part 1
Review: Forget idiotic movies like 'Jaws,' these Scandanavian maniacs grab sharks by the tail and kill them for fun. A suicide mission that turned out to be one of the most amazing adventures ever. Across the Pacific on a Balsa raft, at the mercy of the elements? Are you nuts? Not Thor and his band of merry men; they were theoretically convinced and determined to put their tails on the line to prove it. I have never read anything in my life so full of intensity, danger and heroic, romantic adventure. Also check out the video 'Kon-Tiki' featuring all the amateur footage shot on the raft which, although very haphazard and incomplete (as it had to be under the circumstances), turns out to be extremely moving.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book of real life adventure & discovery
Review: Heyerdahl epitomises the human search for knowledge and man's driving curiosity to seek out the truth. His voyaga is inspiring. This book is great.. I read it as a child and I'm getting this book for my son..
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: Heyerdahl's book succeeds on many levels--it is both an intriguing scientific/anthropological speculation and an enthralling tale of adventure. While Heyerdahl is not an especially modest person, he has a great gift for a witty yarn, which keeps the book entertaining at all times. His descriptions of his companions, and of travel in the middle of the sea--"East of the Sun and West of the Moon," to use their expression--kept the book open and in my hand for hours on end.
Rating:
Summary: one of the best books i've ever read
Review: I couldn't say enough good things about this book, even if I had all of eternity. It was read to me first by my father, and I have since read it twice, soon to be three times. Highly reccomended!
Rating: 
Summary: Kon-Tiki or Con-Tiki?
Review: I enjoyed reading this book, so much so that I incorporated it into a research paper of mine pertaining to Tiki statues and their movement and evolution across Polynesia. Heyerdahl's exploits indeed do come across as completely fantastic, as if from an imaginged story. This is mainly because important misadventures were not included in his text, and only after interviewing island natives and a careful look at his discoveries and methods were such things discovered. I reccomend this book to anyone who wishes to read about the great adventures of a single man and his crew aboard a raft, I do not reccomend this work to be taken completely literally and as a scholarly report. If such a book appeals to you, by all means, read it and enjoy it, but I highly suggest doing your homework before accepting his journey as full truth.
Rating:
Summary: Kon-Tiki or Con-Tiki?
Review: I enjoyed reading this book, so much so that I incorporated it into a research paper of mine pertaining to Tiki statues and their movement and evolution across Polynesia. Heyerdahl's exploits indeed do come across as completely fantastic, as if from an imaginged story. This is mainly because important misadventures were not included in his text, and only after interviewing island natives and a careful look at his discoveries and methods were such things discovered. I reccomend this book to anyone who wishes to read about the great adventures of a single man and his crew aboard a raft, I do not reccomend this work to be taken completely literally and as a scholarly report. If such a book appeals to you, by all means, read it and enjoy it, but I highly suggest doing your homework before accepting his journey as full truth.
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