As a child I learned the value of reading. My favorite kind of books back then were true adventure stories. They still are today and I have read and re-read a number of good ones. One of my favorites is the true story of Kon Tiki.
Going forward as part of this blog, I will from time to time post a book revue about an adventure book I have read. In this post we'll explore this amazing adventure and how it helped to nurture me as a young boy to grow into dreaming of grand adventures.
The Story
Kon Tiki is the true story written by Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl. Thor developed a theory about how the Polynesian islands became inhabited basing his theory on observations and deductions on the similarity of cultures found in South America to those found across Polynesia. He believed those similarities were so strong, he thought it was possible for peoples from South America to have navigated westward across the Pacific on rafts made from balsa wood logs.
Balsa wood grew along the coast in the highlands of what is now Peru and the peoples there learned to construct rafts using the logs to sail along the coast. Even some of the legends and stories passed down from generations across Polynesia referred to their ancient ancestors as having come from where the sun rises on large rafts.
To prove his theory, he and a select team of five other men built a raft using the same techniques the ancient ones used and took off on journey to sail across the Pacific. They encountered hardships and amazing experiences along the way. About 100 days after embarking, they ran aground on a small uninhabited island, one that was part of a chain of islands that were inhabited.
The journey did not prove that Polynesia was indeed populated from people from South America. It only proved that is was possible.
The Impact
As a young boy I often dreamed of grand adventures and those dreams and the ideals surrounding the challenge of them, formed deep within my mindset. Opportunities to partake of such things never truly materialized, but the influence of having read this story certainly played a roll in my pursuing other kinds of adventures.
My joining the U.S. Coast Guard three years into my college career certainly was influenced by the idea of chasing an adventure...and it became the defining adventure of and the single most influential moment of my life, before or since. Hiking into the woodlands, camping, canoeing and canoe camping, hunting, fishing, and yes even photography all were products germinated from the seed of adventure this book planted within my young mind.
Recommendations
I know many good people who rarely read anything much beyond a shopping list. Many young folks today are almost all visually oriented relying on video and other visual mass media for their entertainment. Being visually fed has its limitations. Allowing your mind to absorb and generate it own visual references is by far a better way to explore life. This book is written at a level that young teens can become engrossed with the story. Certainly adults have the ability to do so if they take the time to read it.
This story took place in 1947, an era when ordinary men could part of an adventure such as this and live a fascinating true life story. The ability to do such things today is limited for so many reasons, but the ability to expand your own ability to dream of grand adventures is as full and exciting as ever. Kon Tiki can provide the reader with that sense of adventure they may never be able to live themselves, but it can also serve to motivate and propel some to achieve amazing things.
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