Kon-Tiki tour draws to a close (Thor Heyerdahl just about dead)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | April 18 2002

[RightWhale]

He is very satisfied with his life

Rightly so. He did what he wanted to do, and made us change our ways of thinking.

[RLK]

The film was amazing. I read his book in the mid-50s. While I think his scientific work was off the wall and a way of subsidizing a hobby, the book was fascinating adventure.

[isthisnickcool]

It was a great book. I enjoyed it back when I was a kid. Heinlien's books too.

[Frances_Marion]

"Heinlien's books too"

I just finished Starship Troopers....WOW! I hope his other books are this good...'Stranger in a Strange Land' is next...

[Ender@Game.now]

If you like Heinlein, try, "Time Enough to Love", and he had plenty of time. Don't forget to keep your beer in a cool, dark place. ):

[isthisnickcool]

I just finished Starship Troopers....WOW! I hope his other books are this good...'Stranger in a Strange Land' is next...

I've read all his books several times. Stranger in a Strange Land is something else. Grok it well:)

See here for a list of his books.

[RLK]

When I was 15 I wanted to build a boat and sail to the Marquesas Islands. I saw a perfect cruising sailboat in a magazine. I wrote to the designer, Olin Stevens, not knowing Stevens was the dean of naval archicture in the entire world. Stevens has to know it was a kid writing him. He wrote me back a gentlemanly letter explain that the architects fees were 7% of the cost of the vessel if built in the U. S. and 12% if built out of the country. I've lost the letter over the years.

Years later I became well known in aspects of marine engineering and materials. I often thought of Stevens at his Vermont farm. He, and John Gardner were among the best of gentlemen.

[Mark Bahner]

I'm an environmental engineer in part from reading Farmer in the Sky. And I started out as a mechanical engineer in part from reading The Door into Summer.

But Kon Tiki was fascinating, too. I went to the Kon Tiki museum, which actually has the original raft. If y'all ever happen to be in Oslo, Norway, check it out:

Kon Tiki museum

P.S. The whaling museum in Oslo is also cool.

[aristeides]

I didn't realize Heyerdahl was so young when he wrote "Kon-Tiki."

[UCANSEE2]

Let's grok !

[Jessebelle]

To all! :) I was born and raised in Scotland, and I remember making a "to-scale" model of the Kon-Tiki raft out of Balsa wood (the same wood he made it out of) at school.

Well, I hated school and I have very few pleasant childhood memories, - but that was certainly one of them!

He was a maverick, and he will be missed. JMHO, - Jesse.

[Caipirabob]

I remember reading his book, "Kon-Tiki" in second or third grade. It captured my imagination as a child. What an adventure! I wonder if any second or third graders today could spell "Heyerdahl" or "Kon-Tiki" for that matter?

Thor served as an exciting inspiration to young minds. His "legend" will not be forgotten.

[backhoe]

I was very young when "Tor" visited my parent's home on Saint Simons many years ago, Sorry to hear this- he was quite a man in his day.

[hford02]

I recommend also "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "Time enough for love" -- Heinlein was brilliant also read Asimov - "I Robot" Clark - "Rendeavous with Rama"

[anniegetyourgun]

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian adventurer who crossed the Pacific on a balsa log raft and chronicled his harrowing 101-day voyage in the book "Kon-Tiki," died Thursday. He was 87.

Heyerdahl stopped taking food, water or medication in early April after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.

Experts scoffed at Heyerdahl when he set off to cross the Pacific aboard a balsa raft in 1947, saying it would get water logged and sink within days.

After 4,900 miles, he proved them wrong by reaching Polynesia from Peru in a bid to prove his theories of human migration.

His later expeditions included voyages aboard the reed rafts Ra, Ra II and Tigris. His wide-ranging archaeological studies were often controversial and challenged accepted views.

After Heyerdahl's 1947 voyage, conventional anthropologists dismissed the college dropout's theories, saying they were only the work of a gifted amateur. But he gained worldwide fame. His book sold tens of millions of copies and his 1951 movie about the voyage won an Academy Award for best documentary.

His later studies focused on ancient step pyramids - including those in Peru and on the island of Tenerife off Africa - which he believed could be evidence of maritime links between ancient civilizations.

Before Heyerdahl made his voyage on the Kon-Tiki, he was deathly afraid of water. He had nearly drowned twice as a child in Larvik, Norway, and overcame his fear only at age 22, when he fell into a raging river in Tahiti and swam to safety.

[RightWhale]

RIP

[Bernard Marx]

Since this was posted Heyerdahl has died.

I think he did more than other single individual to shake up the stupidities and academic hubris surrounding the peopling of the Americas. I have long agreed with him about the following:

"The more I do and the more I see, the more I realize the shocking extent of ignorance that exists among the scholarly circles that call themselves authorities and pretend to have a monopoly of all knowledge," he wrote.

Rest in peace and continue your explorations to the end of time, old Mentor.

[blam]

""The more I do and the more I see, the more I realize the shocking extent of ignorance that exists among the scholarly circles that call themselves authorities and pretend to have a monopoly of all knowledge," he wrote."

Ditto. RIP old friend.

[Vigilant1]

Explorer Thor Heyerdahl, 87, Dies