This is a well-written and clearly told account of the people of Polynesia and how they sailed, settled, navigated, and thrived in this unforgiving landscape. I learned a lot from this book but did feel at times that it was overly sanguine. There are passing mentions of the brutalities that occured in Polynesia when the Europeans started to sail around there, but I felt that it would have been good to focus a bit more on this part of the story, which is so relevant for Polynesia today. 


We discussed this in an episode recommending non-fiction of the Bookcast Club podcast (episode #68). https://www.buzzsprout.com/1116755/10480720