Post #365597 by tikipedia on Sat, Mar 8, 2008 1:40 PM

All of the previous reviews are spot on for this book. A very lightweight read and written like somebody's term paper.

Considering Donn's persona, I wasn't taken too far back with some apparent embellishment of his life. In fact, I completely expected him to be a spinner of tall-tales, who would describe larger-than-life experiences. But since the author wrote the book from an unobjective point of view, the veracity of the facts are of course questionable.

One thing of interest was Donn's comment that his beachcombing days started during his WW2 service in Casablanca. If the photos in the book are roughly chronological, it seems you can see a change in Don's appearance before and after the war. Many of the photos in the first half of the book depicts Donn in a pith helmet and safari clothes (such as on pg. 30). Many of the post-WW2 photos show Don wearing aloha shirts, pandanus hat, and more island-oriented clothes (e.g. page 138). Perhaps this evolution reflected the pre-tiki and tiki golden age that he was so much a part of.

Overall, however, the $14.95 price for the book is pretty steep, considering the quality of writing.