Erik Hesselberg was one of the five men who went on the famous voyage with Thor Heyerdahl. While on the voyage he kept a hand-lettered illustrated journal, and this was published as Kon-Tiki and I.
Before they ever attempted the Pacific voyage, Thor, Erik, and their companions had to build the raft, and Erik details his trip to South America with plenty of cultural and political commentary, and a fair dose of humor. It's a far more interesting take than the abridged version, which is typeset (automatically changing the character of the book), curtails his depictions of the region's culture and history, and removes many of his drawings. In this version He tells his perspective of building the raft, the voyage itself, their numerous and fascinating encounters with the sea life, and then at the end of the voyage, their celebrations with Pacific Islanders... (This is a little spicy!)
Apparently this one was reprinted at some point, so the Internet Archive link is to a later version, but it appears to be intact!
Anyway, to compare the two versions, check out the Internet Archive links for both!
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