Kon-Tiki

Biologist Thor Heyerdahl tells the story of the expedition he led in 1947, when he and five companions sailed from Peru on a raft made of forty-foot balsa logs. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, he suspected that the South Sea islands were settled by people from far to the east, led by a legendary figure called Kon-Tiki, and the raft took that name. To show that ancient Peruvians could have made the crossing on such a craft, the crew spent about three months on the open Pacific, facing storms, whales and sharks. The account runs from building the raft to the landing in Polynesia. It has been translated into sixty-five languages.

Ovidiu Drugan, owner of Set Sail Nautic School, included it among his favourite books, a group of expedition stories about crossing oceans by ship or raft.