Last year, I visited the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway. Despite having visited the Nordic capital many times since my very first visit back in 2001, for some reason I had never ventured to the so-called ‘museum island.’ I am glad that travelling with my family forced me to look for the entertainment opportunities my son could appreciate and we ended up spending time in this fabulous place.
The Kon-Tiki Museum is an impressive place. What I thought would be a brief walk-through visit turned into a few hours of browsing around the halls full of evidence of incredible adventures. We discussed what we had seen for a long time after we returned home from Oslo.
And then, my husband found “The Kon-Tiki Expedition” by Thor Heyerdahl in our vast, combined library. He read it to our son before bedtime, and their laughter and excited exclamations piqued my curiosity. They told me during breakfast the next day about the adventures of the Kon-Tiki expedition members with such enthusiasm that I too wanted to read that book. Besides, my husband told me that my writing journey reminds him of Thor Heyerdahl and his determination to accomplish something he passionately believed in. Almost no one believed he could do it – cross the Pacific Ocean on a flimsy raft – my husband said, just like nobody thinks you can make it as a writer. You must read it, he concluded, because it is so incredibly inspiring.
So, I have read it, and I am very happy that I have. I thought it would be a boring description of monotonous days at sea, written in the dry manner of a meticulous scientist. Instead, it turned out to be fast-paced, with more twists and turns than a fiction novel. I think the compelling manner in which the book is written reflects both the vivid personality of Thor Heyerdahl and his deep passion for his research subject. His enthusiasm about the expedition, which was considered by some as absolutely insane and by others pseudo-scientific, spills out from the pages. And you begin feeling the same way. Almost childishly excited about the whole thing, wishing with all your heart for the dangerous and reckless voyage to be a success.
It is a wasted effort to try reciting the plot. Six bearded guys on a raft built using some ancient sketches crossing the ocean in an attempt to prove that such journey is possible. This book is not about what happened to these six adventure seekers. Although the things that happened to them while they sailed across the waters of the Pacific are very interesting to read about. To me, this book is about the power of one person’s determination to achieve the unachievable. So many times the Kon-Tiki expedition was dangling on a thread. A less determined person would have dropped the idea. But Thor Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theories with such passion that it pulled other enthusiasts into his orbit. It was as if fate itself wanted him to succeed and began helping him at one point when it was clear that this man wouldn’t give up.
Meeting the deep-sea beasts no one knew existed, catching the exotic fish nobody had seen in the flesh, playing with sharks as if they were kittens – “The Kon-Tiki Expedition” is full of things most of us couldn’t have imagined before reading this book. Just like my husband had said when urged me to read it, it indeed has been a highly motivating and inspiring reading experience.
Eve's Book Diary 
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