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smithjasont01 's review for:
The Ra Expeditions
by Thor Heyerdahl
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
"It was easy to find differences between man and man, but still easier to find the highest common denominator of mankind."
Years after taking to the Pacific on a balsa wood raft to prove South America could have made it out into the Pacific Islands, Thor has continued studying different human civilizations and has a new idea to test. Could ancient Egyptians have sailed out of the Mediterranean and into the gulf of Mexico on reed boats? The signs were all there, civilizations spread across the globe all worshipping the sun, all using reed boats for transportation, and then in the Americas legends of white men sailing out from the East long before Columbus. Thor spends the first third of the book discussing the similarities between the various culture of Egypt, Aztec/Maya/Inca and then those of Easter Island. We then travel around Africa viewing the remaining peoples who still build reed boats. From Lake Chad to Ethiopia he meets various cultures and sees first hand the reed boats in actions.
Soon he hires members from Chad to build a craft to test out his hypothesis first hand. He then gets a crew from 7 countries, including the US and USSR at the time, and they set sail for America starting from Morocco. Since they were using designs they gleaned from Egyptian hieroglyphics they didn't realize some of the flaws of their newly built boat. With their stern slowly sinking, both their rudders broken they were forced to drift with the tides. But on they went day after day and getting closer to America. It wasn't until they were caught in bad weather with less than 1000 miles to go to Barbados that they were forced off the Ra. But this didn't stop Thor. Just 10 months later he was out with a crew of 8 on a newly redesigned boat. With the lessons from the first outing they were able to keep their tail up and rudders going throughout the trip. This new design carried them 3270 miles in 57 days to the island of Barbados proving that it was possible at least for Egyptian boats to get to America well before most would expect.
Overall a fun adventure to follow with a look at various cultures throughout the book.
Years after taking to the Pacific on a balsa wood raft to prove South America could have made it out into the Pacific Islands, Thor has continued studying different human civilizations and has a new idea to test. Could ancient Egyptians have sailed out of the Mediterranean and into the gulf of Mexico on reed boats? The signs were all there, civilizations spread across the globe all worshipping the sun, all using reed boats for transportation, and then in the Americas legends of white men sailing out from the East long before Columbus. Thor spends the first third of the book discussing the similarities between the various culture of Egypt, Aztec/Maya/Inca and then those of Easter Island. We then travel around Africa viewing the remaining peoples who still build reed boats. From Lake Chad to Ethiopia he meets various cultures and sees first hand the reed boats in actions.
Soon he hires members from Chad to build a craft to test out his hypothesis first hand. He then gets a crew from 7 countries, including the US and USSR at the time, and they set sail for America starting from Morocco. Since they were using designs they gleaned from Egyptian hieroglyphics they didn't realize some of the flaws of their newly built boat. With their stern slowly sinking, both their rudders broken they were forced to drift with the tides. But on they went day after day and getting closer to America. It wasn't until they were caught in bad weather with less than 1000 miles to go to Barbados that they were forced off the Ra. But this didn't stop Thor. Just 10 months later he was out with a crew of 8 on a newly redesigned boat. With the lessons from the first outing they were able to keep their tail up and rudders going throughout the trip. This new design carried them 3270 miles in 57 days to the island of Barbados proving that it was possible at least for Egyptian boats to get to America well before most would expect.
Overall a fun adventure to follow with a look at various cultures throughout the book.