1421 - A Review

It's a strange thing that my perception of the book has changed because I decided to read some more reviews on the book itself. Taken at face value, 1421 is a mind-blowing book that makes the Chinese look all that in maritime travel. Having sailed to Americas, Australia/New Zealand, around Greenland...if it was true, then I am thoroughly impressed with my great ancestors. The evidence given seems logical, and maybe a part of me wanted to believe that the Chinese actually did something in those days, instead of tooling around with the jade sphere within sphere things that take 2 years to create, and don't do much.

However, reading more reviews, this seems like it's falling into the "Da Vinci Code" category, only with more pictures and footnotes. There are many fallacies in Menzies' arguments ie the assumptions he makes leads to logical conclusions and then because of that conclusion he asserts that the assumption is a fact (?!). That and his website is very sparse on details and hard evidence.

One the bright aims of the book would have been to create awareness of history and more curious minds to delve deeper into it. Of course, the darker aim of this book is to create a bit of contraversy to help sales of the book. On both counts, Menzies has succeeded.

One of the quotes from the Amazon review page puts it very well:

"So, one is left at this - history is not an exact science much of the time, but it isn't a complete fiction or completely subjective dependent upon the whims of those who believe what they will believe, either. It is true that China was more advanced that Europe in many ways at this time, and that the Chinese did command larger fleets than the Europeans at this point in time. However, Menzies' conclusions here are based on interpretation that rests on the shifting sands of myth, legend, and documents with variable ideas of accuracy."

I wait to see what becomes of this thread. Maybe history will get rewritten...

Only one cheap call:

we rooled the seas (and da world) once upon a time (in china).. and one day soon we will again dominate this earth. reprezents yo!
giz - 20 April '06 - 23:32