Sea People

The Puzzle of Polynesia

By: Christina Thompson

Narrated by: Susan Lyons

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

A blend of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and Simon Winchester’s Pacific, a thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.

For more than a millennium, Polynesians have occupied the remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, a vast triangle stretching from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. Until the arrival of European explorers, they were the only people to have ever lived there. Both the most closely related and the most widely dispersed people in the world before the era of mass migration, Polynesians can trace their roots to a group of epic voyagers who ventured out into the unknown in one of the greatest adventures in human history.

How did the earliest Polynesians find and colonize these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? This conundrum, which came to be known as the Problem of Polynesian Origins, emerged in the 18th century as one of the great geographical mysteries of mankind.

For Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: Her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In Sea People, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists, and geographers who have puzzled over this history for 300 years.

A masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, Sea People combines the thrill of exploration with the drama of discovery in a vivid tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world.

©2019 Christina Thompson (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Delightful listen!

Wonderfully written, superbly researched. No tone of superiority, she seems to have read everything on the subject and organized it coherently. Her writing is very elegant and scholarly, so you might need a dictionary to understand it all, but the words are beautiful and exact. It seems the puzzle still isn't solved, but it has been proven that drifting from South America is actually a viable way to reach some islands. They've also shown that ancient navigational methods work even if Westerners can't understand them, and that by using these methods, travel between Hawai'i and Tahiti is possible. You will come to respect and admire these people.

The narration is ethereal. Thompson's long, erudite sentences roll off Lyions' tongue to lie in your lap like shining sea pebbles.

Favorite audiobook of all time?

I adored this book. I have asked myself whether it would have gripped me as much if I weren't part Hawaiian and had a minor personal interest in the mystery of Polynesian peoples' origins, and I honestly believe it would. The author manages to incorporate information from a broad range of disciplines/subjects - anthropology, archeology, history, marine navigation, botany, zoology, etc - into a really gripping detective story that is moving, at times heartbreaking, and at the same time really inspiring and even uplifting. The narrator Susan Lyons is one of the best I've ever heard. Her delivery is deliberate without being dull, and I could listen to her read the phone book. I really didn't want this to end!

Enjoyable

review of the history of Polynesians. Covers a lot of ground from a few different perspectives and is very engaging.

Clear and pleasant voiced

This volume Is clearly voiced and well presented for listening while traveling, of the ultimate travel tale.

Engaging and insightful

What Thompson brings together is a compelling history with an equally compelling mystery. Great read.

Human capacity and ingenuity vs “this can’t be”

Beautifully written as an historical mystery. Well read.

I was thoroughly engaged as the treasure was slowly unwrapped.

Highly recommend.

Very informative.

I certainly learned a lot from this book. That being said it wasn’t as entertaining as I was hoping. It reads a lot like a college anthropology textbook. If that’s your jam then you’ll love this book.

Terrific!

The best nonfiction I've listened to in a long time. Hit the perfect balance of details- enough to make the book interesting and compelling, but did not get bogged down in tedious tangents. Well organized and clearly presented. Narrator was excellent too.

Memories

I grew up in Hawaii during a lot of those times and was very aware of the people and activities. There is so much to learn about and from the Hawaiian people and culture. Some of my best times were those with a Hawaiian family I knew. So many wonderful interesting lessons to learn and experiences to have.

Great overview

excellent info, well organized and delivered in this audiobook. provides a great overview of the quest for understanding of the Polynesian people's. wish it had a bit more specific history of each island.