Ben Finney (1933–2017)
Author of Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience
About the Author
Ben Rudolph Finney was born in San Diego, California on October 1, 1933. He received a bachelor's degree in history, economics and anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1955, a master's degree in anthropology from the University of Hawaii in 1959, and a doctorate in show more anthropology from Harvard University in 1964. After teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Australian National University, he joined the anthropology department at the University of Hawaii in 1970 and taught there until his retirement in 2000. His main accomplishment as an anthropologist was to prove that the settlement of Polynesia came about through deliberate exploration, rather than by accidental settlement. He wrote several books including Polynesian Peasants and Proletarians: Socio-Economic Change Among the Tahitians of French Polynesia, Surfing: The Sport of Hawaiian Kings, Big-Men and Business: Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth in the New Guinea Highlands, Hokule'a: The Way to Tahiti, Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience, From Sea to Space, and Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey Through Polynesia. He died from complications of a stroke on May 23, 2017 at the age of 83. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: photo by Honolulu Star Advertiser in 2012
Works by Ben Finney
Sailing in the Wake of the Ancestors: Reviving Polynesian Voyaging (Legacy of Excellence) (2003) 10 copies, 1 review
Big-Men and Business: Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth in the New Guinea Highlands (1973) 5 copies
Arctic Ghost Ship 1 copy
Associated Works
Wiener völkerkundliche Mitteilungen. VII. Jahrgang, Neue Folge Band II, Nr. 1-4 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Finney, Ben Rudolph
- Birthdate
- 1933-10-01
- Date of death
- 2017-05-23
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley (BA | 1955)
University of Hawaii (MA | Anthropology | 1959)
Harvard University (PhD | Anthropology | 1964) - Occupations
- anthropologist
professor - Organizations
- University of Hawaii at Manoa
Polynesian Voyaging Society
University of California, Santa Barbara
Australian National University
University of French Polynesia
International Space University (show all 10)
National Research Council
NASA Ames Research Center
Auckland Museum
Bishop Museum - Awards and honors
- Royal Institute of Navigation Bronze Medal (1994)
French University of the Pacific Medal (1995)
Tsiolkovsky Medal (1995)
University of Hawai'i Regents' Medal for Excellence in Research (1997) - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- San Diego, California, USA
- Places of residence
- San Diego, California, USA
Hawaii, USA - Place of death
- Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Hawaii, USA
Members
Reviews
Sailing in the Wake of the Ancestors: Reviving Polynesian Voyaging (Legacy of Excellence) by Ben R. Finney
This appears to be written less of a way to follow the adventure, but a hodgepodge of different story lines differing hundreds of years with only a thread to connect them together. I wanted to like this, but just can't get into it. It opened with a list of arguments about why the author is better than anyone else, then after that it doesn't get any better.
Lists
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 14
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 177
- Popularity
- #121,426
- Rating
- 3.3
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 18