Perspective

Kon-Tiki is an adventure story with the fundamental conflict of humans against nature. The story is also a dramatic attempt to bring forward ideas about ancient human migrations that do not jive with accepted scientific theory. Technically, Thor Heyerdahl is a zoologist. He lacks the academic background for ethnographic studies, but he still has an active mind and imagination. He can tie circumstantial evidence together and come up with likely scenarios that are rejected without consideration by ethnographers due to the lack of hard evidence. He also breaks a cardinal rule among scientists to not drift away from their specialized fields.

However valid the scientific criticisms are, the fact of the matter is that Thor and crew build a raft and sail on the Pacific Ocean in the same way that ancient South Americans are known to have sailed. He audaciously accomplishes what he claims that the ancients...