Explorer Heyerdahl (Easter Island, 1989, etc.) offers an engaging
memoir of the South Seas idyll that launched him on his
controversial anthropological theories and lifelong commitment to
conservation. Fresh out of Oslo University, the wayfaring Norwegian
(who turned 81 this year) resolved to escape civilization and get
back to nature. With a like-minded young bride named Liv, he headed
for the Marquesas, an archipelago about 1,000 miles northeast of
Tahiti. In 1937, the venturesome couple set up housekeeping in the
heights of Fatu-Hiva, above a gorgeous interior river valley. While
able to live off the land, the Heyerdahls eventually learned that
life in paradise involves certain trade-offs. Forced to seek
medical attention for their dangerously ulcerated legs, they braved
the open ocean to reach Hivaoa (where painter Paul Gauguin is
buried). Back on Fatu-Hiva, the author and his wife quit the
mosquito coast for the island's windward side. In time, however,
their new Eden became untenable, owing to the animosity of local
inhabitants, the descendants of cannibals, and the couple set out
for home in 1938. Although fascinating, the quotidian details of
Heyerdahl's maiden expedition are less important than the strong
opinions he developed. During this initial sojourn, the author
first conjectured that transoceanic travelers spread ancient
cultures (as well as alien flora and fauna) around the world, a
hypothesis he subsequently tested with the drift voyages of the
Kon-Tiki and Ra II. Heyerdahl also formed deep convictions about
the need for humankind to avoid disturbing nature's wondrous
balances, in particular, those of the great life-sustaining waters
that cover three-quarters of the globe. In closing, he makes a
lyrical attempt to square the circles of creationism and evolution,
concluding there's a divine spark in the universe, since neither
DNA nor protein could have been fashioned by chance. The absorbing
testament of a wise old Viking who remains one of planet Earth's
most devoted and persuasive stewards. (Kirkus Reviews)
In the late 1930s, Thor Heyerdahl left his home in Norway and set off with his new wife for paradise. Fulfilling a long-held ambition to return to nature, the couple sought, and to a degree found, a natural and unspoiled world on the remote island of Fatu-Hiva in the South Pacific. Based on his original journals, Heyerdahl's documentary account charts how the dreams of a lifetime were transformed into a magical year of hope, excitement and unexpected danger. A timeless story of love and adventure, GREEN WAS THE EARTH… is also an impassioned plea for the preservation of the cities and the seas against the tide of pollution and the pursuit of profit, ideas and beliefs, a cry which would shape one man's life and the environmental concerns of successive generations.
Powerful and poignant, GREEN WAS THE EARTH ON THE SEVENTH DAY is a very special kind of autobiography.
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