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Green Was the Earth on the Seventh Day: Memories and Journeys of a Lifetime
Recounts the author's experiences on Fatu-Hiva in the 1930s, where he tried to live like the natives, and where he developed his theories about transoceanic contact and the need to protect the environment
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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324 people want to read
About the author
Thor Heyerdahl
66 books314 followersThor 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.
--from Wikipedia
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.
--from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 11, 2012
Heyerdahl, reflecting on some undeniable facts. In 1947 during his Kon-Tiki expedition he did not see any rubbish in the Pacific. Twenty years later on another ocean crossing, they were inundated with plastic and discarded packaging. People can talk all they like about economic growth, but waste and rubbish and pollution are not growth, they're regression.
Polynesia is a place of special relevance. Each island could almost be viewed as a planet, on its own, in the vastness of the Pacific. Heyerdahl's memories of these remote and beautiful islands, and the effects of modernity on their people, will linger in the mind - literally - for the rest of my life.
Polynesia is a place of special relevance. Each island could almost be viewed as a planet, on its own, in the vastness of the Pacific. Heyerdahl's memories of these remote and beautiful islands, and the effects of modernity on their people, will linger in the mind - literally - for the rest of my life.
November 10, 2014
This was the first Heyerdahl I happened upon in my teens during one of the many afternoons spent wading through the local library shelves. This is where he goes back to the beginning...where a young idealist & his future bride spend their weekend dates walking barefoot through Norwegian parks to prepare their soft feet for the rough wilds of the South Pacific. You need tough soles to drop out of society. It was these little details and the undeniable romance of the scheme that captured my imagination & took me on many more Heyerdahl adventures.
January 4, 2018
Loved it! Years later still thinking about the story, ideas and general feel of this novel. There is no better way to know that a book is a masterpiece and has influenced you, changed you and simply made you think, than the fact that you continue to have a dialogue with the author long after reading the book and want to give it as present to those you care about!
One of the ideas I remember and it is so relevant today - progress meant any possible moving away from nature - the rulers of the world where so obsessed with their innovation skills and attempts to change the world, that they pursued it without thinking what is they they really want to achieve...
One of the ideas I remember and it is so relevant today - progress meant any possible moving away from nature - the rulers of the world where so obsessed with their innovation skills and attempts to change the world, that they pursued it without thinking what is they they really want to achieve...
October 17, 2013
Absolutely marvelous! His desire to experience life in a natural setting (Polynesia)led on to a lifetime journey of inquiry into the origins and travels of ancient man and ultimately into a deep concern for the well-being of this planet we call home. A trained Anthropologist, he sees no contradiction between evolution and creation and recognizes that without a superior intelligence (God) as the motivating force, evolution simply could not be possible. This book is a wake-up call to mankind to consider the damage being done to our land, our seas and our skies all in the name of 'Progress'.
January 22, 2016
Pēdējā no autora lasītajām grāmatām (2012.gadā, pārējās pirms vairāk kā 10 gadiem). Secināju, ka Heijerdāls ļoti ietekmējis manu dzīves uztveri un domāšanu. Par to, kā civilizācija degradē mūs. Pārņem gan nelielas skumjas, ka rets vairs ir kāds pasaules nostūris, kuru nebūtu skārusi civilizācijas postošā ietekme.
March 27, 2010
Romantic tale of how he and his bride ride off into the Pacific ocean to take up their first home on a beautiful , bountiful island.
What could be more romantic while at this tender age of 28?
What could be more romantic while at this tender age of 28?
January 10, 2016
I enjoyed this book tremendously. Learned so much from it.
June 6, 2023
Verreweg het beste non-fictie boek dat ik gelezen heb. Prachtige omschrijving van zijn leven op de Polynesische eilanden, wat vanwege de vele bizarre gebeurtenissen en bijzondere ontdekkingen wegleest als een spannende misdaadthriller. Als bioloog maakt hij ook veel lyrische en interessante opmerkingen en beschrijvingen van de ongerepte natuur op het eiland waar hij voor een lange tijd verblijft. Het begint en eindigt met een sterk, kritisch en enigszins pessimistisch betoog over de manier waarop de moderne mens met de natuur omgaat.
“At about the age of sixteen, I started to feel uneasy. My confidence in adults began to be shaken. They were not smarter than us kids. They had just fixed ideas and stuck to them even if they disagreed. They were dragging us along a road to an unknown destination; they had no goal, only something to escape from: the natural.”
Hoe meer ik van zijn standpunten las, hoe meer ik het eens werd en hoe meer ik mijn eigen rol in de onbalans tussen mens en natuur begon in te zien. Zelden een boek gelezen dat zo resoneert met mijn gevoel, dus ik ben erg blij dat ik deze op het laatste moment nog heb meegenomen uit de giftshop van het Kon-Tiki museum.
“Man cut down the garden of Eden and planted trees in a row.”
“It is not so strange that for many ancient people the moon was the goddess of love and soothing mother of the universe, while the sun was the alert and industrious father. Only modern man has traded away the night sky in an attempt to obtain continuous day. He turns the night into day in less than a second and puts on a million city lights until he sees nothing but his own world.”
“At about the age of sixteen, I started to feel uneasy. My confidence in adults began to be shaken. They were not smarter than us kids. They had just fixed ideas and stuck to them even if they disagreed. They were dragging us along a road to an unknown destination; they had no goal, only something to escape from: the natural.”
Hoe meer ik van zijn standpunten las, hoe meer ik het eens werd en hoe meer ik mijn eigen rol in de onbalans tussen mens en natuur begon in te zien. Zelden een boek gelezen dat zo resoneert met mijn gevoel, dus ik ben erg blij dat ik deze op het laatste moment nog heb meegenomen uit de giftshop van het Kon-Tiki museum.
“Man cut down the garden of Eden and planted trees in a row.”
“It is not so strange that for many ancient people the moon was the goddess of love and soothing mother of the universe, while the sun was the alert and industrious father. Only modern man has traded away the night sky in an attempt to obtain continuous day. He turns the night into day in less than a second and puts on a million city lights until he sees nothing but his own world.”
December 15, 2016
This was an engrossing account of Thor and Liv Heyerdahl's year on Fatu-Hiva in French Polynesia, as they attempt to "return to Eden," in order to live as closely as possible with Nature.
Liv's daughter writes:
"Liv and Thor met as college students at the University of Oslo and were married when she was just 20 and he was 22. They had an audacious plan for their new life together, which is depicted briefly on film. Drawing from Thor’s studies of zoology and primitive man and his desire to step away from the modern world, they set out on a grand experiment: Could modern man truly go back to nature? Could this contemporary Adam and Eve travel not only geographically to the end of the world but also step back into the Stone Age and live like ancient man?
After having extracted nervous consent and expedition funding from their parents, the young couple were married on Christmas Eve 1936 and the next morning they left for the most remote and untouched place they could find. The South Pacific island of Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas lies 1,000 miles from Tahiti and is reached only by an annual visit from a schooner plying the coconut trade. The newlyweds landed on this sub-equatorial shore with no provisions, weapons, or radio. They had been named Mr. and Mrs. Blue Sky while pausing en route in Tahiti, where everyone advised them they may as well be dropping off the planet. Only under duress did they agree to take with them a machete and cooking pot. The natives were as advertised — sullen, unfriendly, and plagued by diseases from the outside world, including leprosy and elephantiasis, introduced by the rare visitors since the days of Captain Cook. Cannibalism had only recently fallen out of fashion on the island. The last living cannibal made the uncomfortable observation while looking at my mother that a woman’s forearm was the most delectable as far as human flesh was concerned.
Settling into paradise proved to be daunting on many levels — think tropical heat, disease-carrying mosquitoes, venomous insects and snakes, dangerously hostile native people, biblically destructive rain, and life-threatening skin disease — but they did manage to build a traditional hut and live off the land, as well as collect and study zoological and botanical specimens. They also discovered surprising artifacts and stories from the local oral history coupled with observations on prevailing winds and currents that led them to hypothesize that ancient human migration could have come from South America in the East. The accepted theory was that ancient man came exclusively from Asia in the West. This time spent in far-flung Polynesia provided the ideas behind the Kon-Tiki expedition. They wrote a book about their audacious adventure called “Fatu Hiva.”" (https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movi...)
Liv's daughter writes:
"Liv and Thor met as college students at the University of Oslo and were married when she was just 20 and he was 22. They had an audacious plan for their new life together, which is depicted briefly on film. Drawing from Thor’s studies of zoology and primitive man and his desire to step away from the modern world, they set out on a grand experiment: Could modern man truly go back to nature? Could this contemporary Adam and Eve travel not only geographically to the end of the world but also step back into the Stone Age and live like ancient man?
After having extracted nervous consent and expedition funding from their parents, the young couple were married on Christmas Eve 1936 and the next morning they left for the most remote and untouched place they could find. The South Pacific island of Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas lies 1,000 miles from Tahiti and is reached only by an annual visit from a schooner plying the coconut trade. The newlyweds landed on this sub-equatorial shore with no provisions, weapons, or radio. They had been named Mr. and Mrs. Blue Sky while pausing en route in Tahiti, where everyone advised them they may as well be dropping off the planet. Only under duress did they agree to take with them a machete and cooking pot. The natives were as advertised — sullen, unfriendly, and plagued by diseases from the outside world, including leprosy and elephantiasis, introduced by the rare visitors since the days of Captain Cook. Cannibalism had only recently fallen out of fashion on the island. The last living cannibal made the uncomfortable observation while looking at my mother that a woman’s forearm was the most delectable as far as human flesh was concerned.
Settling into paradise proved to be daunting on many levels — think tropical heat, disease-carrying mosquitoes, venomous insects and snakes, dangerously hostile native people, biblically destructive rain, and life-threatening skin disease — but they did manage to build a traditional hut and live off the land, as well as collect and study zoological and botanical specimens. They also discovered surprising artifacts and stories from the local oral history coupled with observations on prevailing winds and currents that led them to hypothesize that ancient human migration could have come from South America in the East. The accepted theory was that ancient man came exclusively from Asia in the West. This time spent in far-flung Polynesia provided the ideas behind the Kon-Tiki expedition. They wrote a book about their audacious adventure called “Fatu Hiva.”" (https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movi...)
June 28, 2023
TREASURED PASSAGES (in order of appearance):
"If ... [the road of progress] never existed, how could [humans] survive in those early ages, [being] ... the youngest [children] of nature, ... on a planet where large and small animals, better fitted for ... survival ... filled every niche in the ecosystem? Was there ever a time ... when [humans] could come of age to walk about unarmed and unprotected, harvesting ... food from an [uncultivated] environment ... ?"
"[We] must ask, ... why did our early ancestors leave such a place, and what urged them to wage war against nature? Why our lasting mixture of contempt and fear for the environment that had once made our very existence possible? Was [humankind] driven out of the Garden, or did [they] walk away sure of building something better, while [their] God was left sitting alone .... ?"
"there is nothing to be sure of in the suture, but much to learn from the past."
"We were building a new Tower of Babel without a blueprint. We were slowly cutting off the branch of the tree of nature of which we were still a part. If God had created nature, we ought to respect it. And if there was no God, then Nature was the creature of [humans], and there was even more reason to respect it."
"Ancient cultures had plenty of time. A shortage of time is a sign of modern civilization. ... [My] greatest dream was to ... get rid of the clock. To try to cut off all ties with civilization and walk into a tropical wilderness empty-handed and barefoot, as a [human] at one with nature."
"The blue ocean was as infinite as the blue sky, one merging into the other, both part of the boundless universe."
"They were ready to welcome any change from the world ... by calling it 'progress', no matter what the change might be. 'Progress' was synonymous with distance from nature. The adults ... were so absorbed by their own ability to invent and to alter the existing world, that they hurried ... , with no design for the ultimate structure."
"How could adults believe that people of my age would think more clearly, once our freshly developed minds had been pushed through the education machine and filled to capacity with the doctrines of the elders? It was now, while we were still young, that we had to think; ... if we were not to be drugged into accepting blindly the seats offered to us ... ."
""We were taught to believe in progress from Paradise. ... We were also told that ... God was completely satisfied with the world [She] created. ... But whereas God was pleased with [Her] job, [humankind] was not. God was sure [She] had given [humankind] a perfect environment, an earthly Paradise. [Humankind] did not agree. While God rested, [humankind] took over.""
""[Adults] said that God had created nature, and yet they acted as if the devil was on their heels unless they continued to sever their ties with nature. Even atheists, who argued that nature itself had produced [humankind], acted as if nature was [human's] old and innate enemy.""
"Nature itself had exaggerated. Something so beautiful seemed impossible."
"The days were long, perhaps because we were alert every moment in an environment completely new to us. Yet we were never bored. Each day was packed with new observations, new experiences."
"It was good to feel the breeze, the sun, the touch of the forest, rather than ... the same cloth clinging to us wherever we moved. To ... feel the soft mud squeeze up between the toes ... felt better than stepping continually on the inside of the same pair of socks. Rather than feeling poor and naked, we felt rich, wrapped in the whole universe. We and everything were part of one eternity."
"Living month to month with the plants that fed us, I came to look upon nature as a sort of magician, whose magic wand was time."
"All other living creatures would be able to continue their existence without the presence of [humankind], for they did indeed exist alone in the beginning, without [humankind]. But [humans] could be neither created nor evolved before the rest of the global ecosystem was ready to house [them]. Nor could [humankind] survive in the future if that ecosystem was destroyed."
"We have no idea what the origin of gravity is. But we eliminate our ignorance once we have a name for it. It is the same with the flowers in the forest; we feel we know them the moment we know their names. Words are useful, not least those we fabricate to hide our ignorance. To make us stop thinking ... "
"The more we look into microscopes and telescopes, the better we understand that we have been helped into a world too wisely evolved toward a functional ecosystem to be a product of pure coincidence. A billion molecules could be tossed into the air and never come down together in the shape of a butterfly egg or the seed of a breadfruit tree."
"The islanders did not fear death"
"Happy days made time blur ... . ... [There] was no tomorrow nor any yesterday. Everything was today, no matter how often we saw ... the colorful approach of another sunrise. Our former life was ... a remote dream. ... When we thought of it, it gave us a strange feeling, as if we were in a science-fiction novel. When we tried to describe our own world, ... [we] never seemed to quite believe our words."
"'There is nothing for modern [human] to return to,'" ... I said ... with sadness."
"the sea and the sky have been the two symbols of endless dimensions and permanence"
"I began to feel that the ocean was a friend. It was more. It was the mother of all life. It had been the life supporter and food provider for thousands of years ... ."
"there was forever one single ocean. No matter how big the continents were, they rose up from the bottom of the sea to become islands in a common world ocean."
"evolution is no less creative than creation. It is creation by degrees over an extensive period of time. Evolution needed a push to get started, and guidance rather than good luck to end up with the production of all living species. ... We cannot dispose of creation by arguing that evolution created itself."
"If ... [the road of progress] never existed, how could [humans] survive in those early ages, [being] ... the youngest [children] of nature, ... on a planet where large and small animals, better fitted for ... survival ... filled every niche in the ecosystem? Was there ever a time ... when [humans] could come of age to walk about unarmed and unprotected, harvesting ... food from an [uncultivated] environment ... ?"
"[We] must ask, ... why did our early ancestors leave such a place, and what urged them to wage war against nature? Why our lasting mixture of contempt and fear for the environment that had once made our very existence possible? Was [humankind] driven out of the Garden, or did [they] walk away sure of building something better, while [their] God was left sitting alone .... ?"
"there is nothing to be sure of in the suture, but much to learn from the past."
"We were building a new Tower of Babel without a blueprint. We were slowly cutting off the branch of the tree of nature of which we were still a part. If God had created nature, we ought to respect it. And if there was no God, then Nature was the creature of [humans], and there was even more reason to respect it."
"Ancient cultures had plenty of time. A shortage of time is a sign of modern civilization. ... [My] greatest dream was to ... get rid of the clock. To try to cut off all ties with civilization and walk into a tropical wilderness empty-handed and barefoot, as a [human] at one with nature."
"The blue ocean was as infinite as the blue sky, one merging into the other, both part of the boundless universe."
"They were ready to welcome any change from the world ... by calling it 'progress', no matter what the change might be. 'Progress' was synonymous with distance from nature. The adults ... were so absorbed by their own ability to invent and to alter the existing world, that they hurried ... , with no design for the ultimate structure."
"How could adults believe that people of my age would think more clearly, once our freshly developed minds had been pushed through the education machine and filled to capacity with the doctrines of the elders? It was now, while we were still young, that we had to think; ... if we were not to be drugged into accepting blindly the seats offered to us ... ."
""We were taught to believe in progress from Paradise. ... We were also told that ... God was completely satisfied with the world [She] created. ... But whereas God was pleased with [Her] job, [humankind] was not. God was sure [She] had given [humankind] a perfect environment, an earthly Paradise. [Humankind] did not agree. While God rested, [humankind] took over.""
""[Adults] said that God had created nature, and yet they acted as if the devil was on their heels unless they continued to sever their ties with nature. Even atheists, who argued that nature itself had produced [humankind], acted as if nature was [human's] old and innate enemy.""
"Nature itself had exaggerated. Something so beautiful seemed impossible."
"The days were long, perhaps because we were alert every moment in an environment completely new to us. Yet we were never bored. Each day was packed with new observations, new experiences."
"It was good to feel the breeze, the sun, the touch of the forest, rather than ... the same cloth clinging to us wherever we moved. To ... feel the soft mud squeeze up between the toes ... felt better than stepping continually on the inside of the same pair of socks. Rather than feeling poor and naked, we felt rich, wrapped in the whole universe. We and everything were part of one eternity."
"Living month to month with the plants that fed us, I came to look upon nature as a sort of magician, whose magic wand was time."
"All other living creatures would be able to continue their existence without the presence of [humankind], for they did indeed exist alone in the beginning, without [humankind]. But [humans] could be neither created nor evolved before the rest of the global ecosystem was ready to house [them]. Nor could [humankind] survive in the future if that ecosystem was destroyed."
"We have no idea what the origin of gravity is. But we eliminate our ignorance once we have a name for it. It is the same with the flowers in the forest; we feel we know them the moment we know their names. Words are useful, not least those we fabricate to hide our ignorance. To make us stop thinking ... "
"The more we look into microscopes and telescopes, the better we understand that we have been helped into a world too wisely evolved toward a functional ecosystem to be a product of pure coincidence. A billion molecules could be tossed into the air and never come down together in the shape of a butterfly egg or the seed of a breadfruit tree."
"The islanders did not fear death"
"Happy days made time blur ... . ... [There] was no tomorrow nor any yesterday. Everything was today, no matter how often we saw ... the colorful approach of another sunrise. Our former life was ... a remote dream. ... When we thought of it, it gave us a strange feeling, as if we were in a science-fiction novel. When we tried to describe our own world, ... [we] never seemed to quite believe our words."
"'There is nothing for modern [human] to return to,'" ... I said ... with sadness."
"the sea and the sky have been the two symbols of endless dimensions and permanence"
"I began to feel that the ocean was a friend. It was more. It was the mother of all life. It had been the life supporter and food provider for thousands of years ... ."
"there was forever one single ocean. No matter how big the continents were, they rose up from the bottom of the sea to become islands in a common world ocean."
"evolution is no less creative than creation. It is creation by degrees over an extensive period of time. Evolution needed a push to get started, and guidance rather than good luck to end up with the production of all living species. ... We cannot dispose of creation by arguing that evolution created itself."
August 22, 2008
This is a good book and I am learning some new stuff about anthropology and archeology in South America and the south Pacific. Unfortunately my biological background is making me nitpicky about some claims he makes and gets in the way of enjoying the book as much as I could because some of his knowledge is out-of-date. But overall the story of this Norwegian couple going back-to-nature in the South Pacific is feeding my imagination.
May 27, 2013
Notes:
2/3 of this book is straight copy from Fatu-Hiva and the remainder is Kon-Tiki and a brief summary of Ra Expeditions and Aku-Aku; uses one chapter as a platform to elevate Darwinism -- after all that time in nature, face-to-face with God's creation, he still ends up an evolutionist -- so totally disappointing.
2/3 of this book is straight copy from Fatu-Hiva and the remainder is Kon-Tiki and a brief summary of Ra Expeditions and Aku-Aku; uses one chapter as a platform to elevate Darwinism -- after all that time in nature, face-to-face with God's creation, he still ends up an evolutionist -- so totally disappointing.
February 11, 2008
Heyerdahl's adventures on Fatu Hiva where he went to live with his new wife in the 1930s - 80 years before Survivor. Not your average honeymoon.
August 3, 2011
Excellent! Made me want to run off to a deserted isle....
September 3, 2015
Brought up latent going-back-to-nature desires!
November 8, 2017
Thor Heyerdahl was the man.
August 4, 2025
This was written by Thor Heyadahl in 1996, mostly about his year on the remote island, Fatu-Hiva in French Polynesia, in the 1930s. He married Liz, age 20 and still needing permission from her parents to marry, and the next day they set off for this remote island with the idea of living permanently in the most basic way they could find on earth. 'Garden of Eden' style.
I'd already read 'Fatu-Hiva: Back to Nature' which he write in 1974 specifically about that adventure so knew a lot of what was in this book. He also touched on his later expeditions such as the Kon-Tiki raft across the Pacific in 1947, to Easter island in 1956, the Ra reed boat expeditions in 1969 and 1970 and his Tigris sailing boat expedition in the Red Sea in the 1970s.
His thoughts on evolution and what man is doing to the detriment of the ecology of the earth are central to this book alongside the adventures of his major expeditions. He was quite ahead of the mass media when he was experiencing this and it was concerning him almost a century ago. Interesting to read what he has written but it did get a little too much science and less details of the adventures than his other books so didn't grip me as much.
I'd already read 'Fatu-Hiva: Back to Nature' which he write in 1974 specifically about that adventure so knew a lot of what was in this book. He also touched on his later expeditions such as the Kon-Tiki raft across the Pacific in 1947, to Easter island in 1956, the Ra reed boat expeditions in 1969 and 1970 and his Tigris sailing boat expedition in the Red Sea in the 1970s.
His thoughts on evolution and what man is doing to the detriment of the ecology of the earth are central to this book alongside the adventures of his major expeditions. He was quite ahead of the mass media when he was experiencing this and it was concerning him almost a century ago. Interesting to read what he has written but it did get a little too much science and less details of the adventures than his other books so didn't grip me as much.
November 24, 2025
Completely unpretentious and leaves you feeling enamored by the beauty of the earth and the tangible heights of human potential. Which Heyerdahl learns are not platforms in outerspace in the near future, but seafaring communities living in deep reciprocity with the natural world. It's easy to fall into a primitivist or even fully nihilistic conviction when seeing the environmental destruction and human exploitation that is the foundation of "civilization", though despite that being Heyerdahl's own view point at times throughout his life, and his motivation for sailing to Polynesia in the first place, you close this book feeling immensly hopeful. We can do better because we did do better, long ago.
Whether or not his thesis of a fair-skinned race of seafaring statue-builders is true, he came to it not by an often patronizing academia, but by a critical, courageous exploration of plants and peoples. He's not an Ancient Aliens guy, and finds such viewpoints ridiculous, but when Indigenous peoples told him about their histories, he didn't try to fit them into pre-existing Western conceptions of the world, but took them at their word. How immeasureably different the world would look like today if we had had more Heyerdahl's instead of Colombus's and Cortez's.
Whether or not his thesis of a fair-skinned race of seafaring statue-builders is true, he came to it not by an often patronizing academia, but by a critical, courageous exploration of plants and peoples. He's not an Ancient Aliens guy, and finds such viewpoints ridiculous, but when Indigenous peoples told him about their histories, he didn't try to fit them into pre-existing Western conceptions of the world, but took them at their word. How immeasureably different the world would look like today if we had had more Heyerdahl's instead of Colombus's and Cortez's.
July 6, 2023
Opowieść o pierwszym, młodzieńczym wyjeździe na wyspy Polinezji jest pretekstem do gorzkiej refleksji autora, uznanego podróżnika, etnografa i ekologa, na temat tego jak, jako ludzie, "czynimy sobie Ziemię poddaną", ale też pretekstem do wyrażenia zachwytu pięknem, precyzją ale też i grozą Natury. Napisana pod koniec życia jest też w częsci podsumowaniem misji Thora Heyerdahla zakończonym testamentem dla przyszłych pokoleń.
Książkę polecam wszystkim. Jest wciągająco napisana, ma trochę z klimatu o powieści o Tomku A.Szklarskiego, którymi kiedyś się zaczytywaliśmy i trochę z Robinsona Cruzoe. Chociaż nie jest wierszem, to ociera się o poezję. Wydaje się że i tłumacz wykonał swoje zadanie ponadprzeciętnie.
Po prawie trzydziestu latach od pierwszego wydania, tematy ekologii, zmian klimatu na trwałe są obecne w publicznych dyskusjach. Wiedza naukowców i świadomość ludzi jest na pewno większa niż w czasach, w których Heyerdahl odbywał swoje słynne wyprawy. Zauważyliśmy problem, czas pokaże czy zdążymy zapobiec katastrofie...
Książkę polecam wszystkim. Jest wciągająco napisana, ma trochę z klimatu o powieści o Tomku A.Szklarskiego, którymi kiedyś się zaczytywaliśmy i trochę z Robinsona Cruzoe. Chociaż nie jest wierszem, to ociera się o poezję. Wydaje się że i tłumacz wykonał swoje zadanie ponadprzeciętnie.
Po prawie trzydziestu latach od pierwszego wydania, tematy ekologii, zmian klimatu na trwałe są obecne w publicznych dyskusjach. Wiedza naukowców i świadomość ludzi jest na pewno większa niż w czasach, w których Heyerdahl odbywał swoje słynne wyprawy. Zauważyliśmy problem, czas pokaże czy zdążymy zapobiec katastrofie...
August 6, 2019
Enjoyable memoir and environmental call to arms.
The most interesting aspect was the documentation of life in Fatu-Hiva and other Polynesian Islands in the early 20th century before easy travel brought them into reach of vacationers. I also appreciated that Heyerdahl was open with the fact that he had to find teachers/mentors to survive in these places. People who held on to fading Polynesian culture and were willing to help. Even at this time there was a generational change moving from traditional foods and life to becoming dependent on trade and imported foods like rice and flour. It's also interesting in that you get to see the inspiration and forerunners of his South Americans settled Polynesia idea.
Less enjoyable: some of the environmental rambles. Important, but not always interesting. How little Liv's (his wife) POV comes into anything. She's part of the central story but she doesn't add much personality to the whole thing. She's absent from any of the modern 'frame' stories and only seems to exist as part of his idea of 'moving back to Eden' with his very own Eve. Most of the time she is suspiciously in line with his own thoughts, and without that I doubt she would have been mentioned much at all. The guy is interesting but entirely one-track.
Also FYI, Heyerdahl leans more toward environmental/evolution deism, which probably angers people on both sides of that line. I think it fits naturally within his time period/culture, but some might be annoyed that he spends time referencing both God and Charles Darwin.
The most interesting aspect was the documentation of life in Fatu-Hiva and other Polynesian Islands in the early 20th century before easy travel brought them into reach of vacationers. I also appreciated that Heyerdahl was open with the fact that he had to find teachers/mentors to survive in these places. People who held on to fading Polynesian culture and were willing to help. Even at this time there was a generational change moving from traditional foods and life to becoming dependent on trade and imported foods like rice and flour. It's also interesting in that you get to see the inspiration and forerunners of his South Americans settled Polynesia idea.
Less enjoyable: some of the environmental rambles. Important, but not always interesting. How little Liv's (his wife) POV comes into anything. She's part of the central story but she doesn't add much personality to the whole thing. She's absent from any of the modern 'frame' stories and only seems to exist as part of his idea of 'moving back to Eden' with his very own Eve. Most of the time she is suspiciously in line with his own thoughts, and without that I doubt she would have been mentioned much at all. The guy is interesting but entirely one-track.
Also FYI, Heyerdahl leans more toward environmental/evolution deism, which probably angers people on both sides of that line. I think it fits naturally within his time period/culture, but some might be annoyed that he spends time referencing both God and Charles Darwin.
September 23, 2021
Šī grāmata un autors tika bieži pieminēta Zanes Eniņas Nekaunīgajā pingvīnā.
Kaut autors nenoliedzami ir iedvesmojošs un aizrautīgs ceļotājs, man kaut kā bija par daudz tā ''nenovēršamā pasaules bojāeja'', kaut kā likās pat ļoti bībeliski, neskatoties uz blakus fonu...
Bet par Peru un nokļūšanu tropos bija interesanti.
Kaut autors nenoliedzami ir iedvesmojošs un aizrautīgs ceļotājs, man kaut kā bija par daudz tā ''nenovēršamā pasaules bojāeja'', kaut kā likās pat ļoti bībeliski, neskatoties uz blakus fonu...
Bet par Peru un nokļūšanu tropos bija interesanti.
May 18, 2022
Read this years ago when my then lover, now husband shared it with me. Definitely interesting and satisfying. A true story of island/nature living/survival. Makes me appreciate living in civilization and know that I wouldn't be interested in trying to live on an island.
October 22, 2019
Han skriv jo godt.
May 21, 2022
Skaists ceļojuma apraksts ar filozofiskām atziņām par progresa ietekmi uz cilvēku dzīvi un dabu. Liek padomāt par dzīves un pasaules vērtībām. Iesaku!
December 28, 2023
Labākais, kas ar mani ir noticis.
May 27, 2024
Just finished and loved this❣️gotta read more of his books! First few pages made me think it was going to be a non-fiction but it ended up being an awesome telling of his journey to Fatu-Hiva🌴
June 10, 2024
Ir grāmatas, kurām gribas apēst katru lappusi. Šī ir viena no tām.
April 28, 2025
Es vēlos pateikt, ka mans opis nomira, lasot šo grāmatu. Tik tiešām mīlestības vēstule Zemei🥹🥹🥹
October 2, 2008
I give it five stars because he DID it. A book I did not put down until I finished.
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