In the Footsteps of Adam

Book excerpt: The world-renowned anthropologist and adventurer reviewed his amazing life's work in this captivating memoir, completed shortly before his death in 2002. In the Footsteps of Adam captures the excitement that surrounded Heyerdahl's bold experiments and the conclusions they pointed to. Choosing to put his life on the line for the sake of proving his theories, Heyerdahl most famously crossed the Pacific from Peru to Polynesia in a hand-built raft made of balsa wood (the Kon-Tiki) to show that ancient civilizations were capable of a much wider range of travel and exploration than previously thought. Heyerdahl also recounts his journeys to the Galapagos, the Maldives, and Easter Island, and meetings met with leaders like Mikhail Gorbachev, Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein. Moving in the footsteps of Adam, Heyerdahl brings to our myopic and often destructive modern world an understanding of the richness and vibrancy of our ancient past.