Accessible books on Polynesian history can sometimes be difficult to find, but this work by Nicholas Thomas is one of my favourites. It is a study of Polynesian expansion, navigation and sailing techniques, rather than a study of Polynesian society more broadly, but as a great deal of Polynesian society does in fact revolve around just those topics, it works very well as an introduction to the topic. In addition to this, it is a beautifully produced book, full of colour images of tropical islands and magnificent boats. Very few history books are ever allowed to be this beautiful, especially in paperback, so I would have enjoyed it for that fact alone, but I found the entire book fascinating, espeically the part about the successive waves of colonisation of the Pacific region. Cannot reccommend it enough.