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| View Larger Image | Voyage of the Manteno: The Education of a Modern-Day Expeditioner
by John Haslett
| | List Price: | $25.95 | | Price: | $20.24 | | You Save: | $5.71 (22%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 580669 | | Studio: | St. Martin's Press | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 336 | | Publication Date: | November 28, 2006 | | Publisher: | St. Martin's Press |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
In 1995, John Haslett went to a tiny fishing village in Ecuador to begin building a thirty-thousand-pound raft made entirely of balsa wood, bamboo, and manila rope. Inspired by Thor Heyerdahl's famed Kon-Tiki voyage, Haslett intended to sail five thousand nautical miles across the open sea to Hawaii. What transpired, however, was anything but a recreation of Heyerdahl's famous voyage. Over the next five years, Haslett and his crews journeyed through a surreal odyssey of madness, mutiny, obsession, and survival. They lived aboard primitive rafts for months at a time, were marooned in alien worlds, saw one vessel sunk, another abandoned, and another wrecked. Ultimately, Haslett and his colleagues would emerge with new discoveries about a lost culture. Voyage of the Manteno is an ancient sea tale, lived by modern men. It is a compelling adventure brought to life by a cast of characters who vary from the ordinary, to the heroic, to an Ahab-like crewman who teetered on the brink of insanity. A tale of hope, survival, and discovery, Voyage of the Manteno is the true story of two harrowing expeditions in the late 1990s. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 8 reviews)
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A Modern Day Kon-Tiki 
I can't remember when, but at one point I mentioned to my wife that I was fascinated by adventures on the open sea. We conversed about it, and she told me about Kon-Tiki, the famed book by explorer Thor Heyerdahl. In that book, he builds a raft and then goes on an expedition from South America to the Polynesian Islands. I think I received this book as a gift, and eventually I began to read it.
Somehow, during the reading of Kon-Tiki, an e-mail arrived from John Haslett. "I was wondering if I could induce you to read my new book." His book? Voyage of the Manteño: The Education of a Modern-Day Expeditioner.
Both books describe the details of building balsa rafts. Both books describe the arcane politics of setting sail from a foreign land. Both books were about open sea voyages (in the case of Manteño, multiple voyages), and the effort it takes to make a voyage work. In each there are fascinating passages about the ocean which any sea-dreaming land lubber like me could enjoy.
While Kon-Tiki is the more popular of the two, and certainly the more heralded (it was first published in 1950), John Haslett's book comes much closer to telling me what I wanted to know. What does the ocean feel like in a storm? What are your emotions when you're adrift at sea? And what happens when you get pissed at your shipmates? (Both authors had a small crew.)
Voyage of the Manteño took on these questions and more. John describes the ocean in all its beauty and fury. He describes feelings of elation, anxiety, and abject terror. He describes the emotional fortitude required to be a true explorer. He writes about his shipmates as worthy companions, even though some of them couldn't hack the sea-faring life. His book is ultimately an adventure of great endurance.
When I finished reading it, I felt immense satisfaction that John was still out there, planning his next voyage. I hope he'll write about it.
February 15, 2008 | |
Voyage of the Manteno 
I enjoyed this book immensely. I even ordered three additional copies for my Alaskan rafting companions. It's a fascinating adventure.
August 02, 2007 | |
Compelling and poignant account of Haslett's first-hand experience
I bought this book as a Father's Day present after hearing an amazing interview with John Haslett on the NPR radio program Think, on KERA in Dallas. Before wrapping it up to send to my dad, I made the "mistake" of starting to read it and couldn't put it down.
This is a compelling, moving, and beautifully written account (despite quite a few typos and editing blunders) of John Haslett's attempts, with friends, to resurrect the dead technology and lost sailing arts of the ancient Manteno people of Ecuador. Through the course of building and sailing four gigantic balsa rafts over several years, Haslett gradually becomes aware of his mission, transforming from an adventurer with something to prove to a researcher with the ability to contribute to a body of knowledge. Haslett's strong prose brings alive sounds, sights, smells and physical sensations - intense, unexpected, sometimes intolerable, sometimes breathtaking - bringing the reader into the action. It is foremost a document of his experience, but also, as the title claims, of his education - definitely in the school of hard knocks.
I was repeatedly astonished at the author's (and his compatriots') supreme good luck in managing to survive to tell their tale. The sequence of disasters they endured seemed endless and incredibly varied. Even more astonishing was the author's refusal to give up. He somehow continued to believe in the possibility of completing his intended voyages, even as the odds piled up against him again and again.
Intermingled with the (mis)adventures were times of joy, delight, wonder, and unexpected humor. Sharks roll to scratch their bellies against ends of the raft's big logs. Dolphins and whales curiously examine the raft and the diving men. The indefatigable inventiveness of a pair of Columbian sailors provides life-saving drinking water as well as little unexpected "luxuries."
Although it is not the book's focus, we also see glimpses of the environmental [...] of the ocean. Haslett's frequently assumes that the conditions he faces, including the voracious sea-worms that destroy his rafts, are the same as those faced by the ancient Manteno, but what if the pollution and fish depopulation he witnessed have also resulted in sea-worm "bloom" leading to more severe infestations?
Many of the expedition's "disasters" actually resulted from inexperience and lack of information. Haslett was blundering headlong in the dark to recreate lost technology and technique - and blundering from his role as solo adventurer to his role as a leader of men. Impatience - the urge and need to get underway without adequate preparation - working on a modern clock rather than an ancient one - also ultimately doomed every voyage, according to Haslett. In relating all this, I found Haslett's account courageous. He was willing to share the details of the expedition's repeated failures, and admitted that his own shortcomings as a leader played no small part in the first raft's demise and the first team's disintegration.
Haslett's relationships with his crew and the many generous people who helped them were poignant. He generally portrays them with respect and conveys their very distinct personalities, sometimes exposing too many warts. Yet he also conveys a slightly overwhelmed sense of gratitude, profound love, and a bit of guilt toward most of his crewmembers. Some were truly heroic, saving the lives of the entire crew; most endured conditions much worse than they had expected, even to the point of trauma. I find myself with strong emotions towards many of the book's "characters," especially Dower, the Ecuadoran fisherman whose maritime experience saved the expedition many times.
This was a worthwhile read, one that calls for a next installment. I hope that John Haslett and his future crew succeed in learning how to build a raft that they can navigate successfully all the way along the ancient Manteno's hypothetical trade route to Mexico - I'll be cheering them on from the shore!
June 17, 2007 | |
Great Story.... shaky writing 
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the story was really captivating. Although I was really entertained by the story, I agree with many of the previous reviews that there were many egregious errors in the book, and I had a hard time getting through it without whipping out my trusty old pencil and making corrections in the margins...
June 16, 2007 | |
Don't miss the chance to experience this voyage
After reading "The Voyage of the Manteno", I can emphatically encourage you to buy a copy for yourself and as a gift.
John's writing makes you feel like a member of his crew. Your knees will feel the bounce of the bamboo floor of the raft. The sea will wash over your feet. Your stomach will growl from hunger. You'll shiver and laugh over John's foibles with a hammerhead shark. His description of living in the darkness at sea will make you hold your hand out in front of your face and marvel that you CAN see yours. You'll cheer for John and Annie - two kindred souls who found each other. Was it chance or fate? You'll admire John's determination, perseverance, and enormous heart. You'll be in awe of what the human body and spirit can endure.
Don't miss the chance to share the experience of a modern day adventurer. Buy "The Voyage of the Manteno" by John Haslett.
May 14, 2007 | |
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