Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining but not very scientific
Review: I had known about the 1513 Piri Reis map showing Patagonia and Antarctica and the great Chinese ships bringing giraffes from Africa. The previous explanations of the Piri Reis map and other maps before the European explorations were absurd, ranging from the continent of Atlantis to extraterrestrials. So, how do we explain that there were many maps of Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia long before any Europeans sailed to these regions? Is anybody claiming that these maps were forgeries or hoaxes? If they are authentic then do we agree that they actually show these lands? And if so, we have to assume somebody before the well-known explorers must have visited them.
Given the size of their ships and the knowledge they had of the world and astronomy, and the extraordinary sailing activity just before the Chinese isolated themselves, it is a good guess that the Chinese could have been the original source of these maps. So far all very reasonable. I wished that the author kept a more scientific approach and more serious tone for the rest of his theories. It is very unsatisfying to mention a Chinese junket found in Sacramento River carbon dated to the year 1410 and carrying rice. As most of his other theories, this discovery is left in the state of " further analysis ... is being carried out as I write..". If this is truly a boat from the Zheng He's fleet the author doesn't have to travel around the world to prove his theory. He can concentrate on this one discovery alone to prove his point. Instead he goes on to the next tantalizing but not rigorously developed claim. Either he can't get permission to dig a discovery, or more details will be supplied later, etc. There are other obviously biased statements that need not have been. It is now common knowledge that Vikings had settlements in North America so there is no reason to claim that Chinese discovered America. It wouldn't take anything away from what the Chinese achieved and what Mr. Menzies presented if the Chinese weren't the first to discover the Americas. (Assuming that the events of the 1421 to 1423 took place as described.)
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, But . . .
Review: This is an intriguing exercise in speculative history. Gavin Menzies, a throwback to the days of the Victorian amateur historian, has produced a massive work of speculation and imagination. In brief, the former Royal Navy submarine commander believes that the Ming treasure ship voyages of the 1420s went much further than the African, Indian, and Middle Eastern ports they are supposed to have visited. Menzies claims evidence that Admiral Zheng He and his fellow eunuch admirals explored most of the world, in the process creating maps that were the basis for the later explorations of Columbus, Da Gama, and other Europeans.I enjoyed this book. Menzies' enthusiasm is contagious, and I especially enjoyed his reminiscences of his own submarine visits to some of the ports he claims the Chinese visited. But in the cold light of day, I have to say that his theory isn't supported. Time after time he makes bold statements, then has to say that he was refused permission to make the final tests that would prove his ideas, or that the data wasn't ready in time for the hard cover edition, or that more information is to be published on his website. Well, why didn't he delay the book a year or so in order to get the proof he claims he has included? Another problem I have is Menzies' claim that all of this Chinese exploration took place in just a few years time in the 1420s. Frankly, I think his theory would be much stronger if he had claimed some sort of long term Chinese sea exploration project. Finally, in all this travelling around that the treasure ships are supposed to have done, why didn't any visit Europe? It seems awfully careless of Admiral Zheng He (who was a truly redoubtable fellow, read Louise Levathes' When China Ruled The Seas for more material on him)to have neglected to visit a continent with a significant number of literate, urbanized areas ripe for trade. (The Chinese knew where Europe was, they hade been in contact for fifteen hundred years or so.) So, I have a very positive impression of Gavin Menzies and I appreciate his enthusiasm and his certainty, however I can only recommend 1421 as an engaging and entertaining work of speculation.
Rating:
Summary: 1421 reasons why or maybe
Review: I found the book an interesting theory and I would be most interested to read some reasons why the theory is not at least, in part, possible. I noted the other comments did not mention the theory that the Portugese reached Puerto Rico some 60 years before Columbus. How many other historical events or "truths" have we found to be incorrect. As a book I enjoyed it as much as Kon Tiki and Aku Aku which had much of the same speculative sense of fun about them. And yes, the chinese discoved Kansas City, that one I found a little hared to believe. But I think you will enjoy this expecially if you like maps, history, and a mental time twister.
Rating:
Summary: Something is afoot....
Review: Menzies' evidence of the Chinese exploration of the Australian continent hundreds of years before Capt. Cook is pursuasive and has appeared elsewhere. The evidence of the Ming fleets reaching the N./S. American continents is less overwhelming, but tantalizing. Clearly something was afoot though, as there are multiple maps showing the area before the acknowledged European explorers (Columbus, Magellan, etc.) visited. If the physical evidence from shipwreck sites appears in the next few years to butress Menzies' claims, then this book will rightly be seen as revolutionary. If not, then it will simply be another speculative stab at history. From a literary perspective, Menzies' writing style is uneven. At some points, such as when he is documenting Columbus' pre-1492 voyages to Iceland and the statement by the inhabitants to Columbus that they had been visited by Chinese fleets, the reader's interest level is kept high. At other times, Menzies wanders off onto tangents that have very little to do with the subject matter - how many times does he need to remind us that he enjoyed drinking rum on a Carribean beach? Despite the physical size of the book, however it remains a quick read and can easily be finished in a weekend. About 20% of the book consists of footnotes and other auxiliary material.
Rating: 
Summary: An Adventure in Historical Discovery
Review: Gavin Menzies propels his readers towards a new perspective on history. East and West become much more than geographical terms. Instead, interwoven, they comprise the basic tapestry of global development.
The author combines meticulous research with his extensive navigational experience to present a convincing argument that China's amazing Navy in 1421 surpassed all others. In addition, he encourages readers to discover new information on this topic, and keep in touch with him through his web page. Thus, Menzies inspires everyone to consider world history as it truly is: an exciting, ever-changing, growing field of study. As an historian of both Asia and America,who began life with a Chinese amah, as Menzies did, I found this book to be factually correct with reliable primary and secondary sources carefully noted. Whether you agree or disagree with the author's thesis, you will find an adventure in historical discovery, which will force you to think more deeply about the influences and patterns creating the world as we know it today.
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but not reliable history
Review: This is an interesting account of the claims made by Mr. Menzies, a former
Royal navy submarine commander and amateur historian. He concludes, from his
study of 15 and 16th centruy maps, a large part of the world (such as Africa, Australia,
North and South America, Greenland, and Antarctica) were mapped before
Europeans have "discovered" these places, or at least before they could have
surveyed them. He also claims that from the study of their diaries, it seems that the
famed European explorers such as Da Gama, Columbus, Magallene and
Cook knew their destination and have maps with them before setting to sail. If so,
where did they gain this knowledge? Mr. Menzies' answer is that this information was obtained from China. In the early
1400s, the Chinese admiral "Zheng He" commanded a huge fleet which explored
world. Zheng He's fleet have traveled 6 or 7 times, bring foreign missions to China
and also trade goods. It has been commonly accepted by historians that this
fleet has explored the South China Sea, Indian Ocean an reaching as far as East
Africa. Mr. Menzies, however, asserts that during the 6th sail which occured in 1421,
it goes further. Shortly after the fleet left China that year, a thurderbolt
hit the palace in Beijing causing a fire, destroyed several newly built
palaces and the throng of the emperor.
Facing many troubles and scared by this bad omen, the Chinese goverment
changed its foreign policy, so after the 1421 expedition returned home, all
records were deliberately destroyed by an official who was against these
oversea adventures. However, a Venetian bussinesman Da Conti happened to be
at India at that time, and he took a ride with the Chinese fleet.
Eventually he returned home, and passed
the information to mapmakers. From these maps, Mr Menzies
claims that he could reconstruct the route taken by the Chinese fleet. The Chinese ships could measure latitude accurately, but for longitude
they have to resort to dead-recon, which is subject to error due to unknown
currents at sea. Menzies found a Korean map (derived from Chinese)
showing Africa, and he claim the error on the west coast of Africa is
because a current mislead the navigator. He further
claim that this current would bring Chinese to Verde island in the Atlantics. From there on, the Chinese fleet splits into three groups. Two went south
and one north. The first two groups reached the tip of south America
and made a survey of the area with Falkland islands as center. They
discovered and passed through Magellene strait, and then reached Antarctica.
The reason they went as far south as Antarctic is to measure accurately
the latitude of stars of South Cross, to be used for future navigation.
Da Conti's account of 22 hour night is thus explained. The chart they
produced later guided Magellene for passing through the strait, and also
ended in Ottoman Turkey, where an ancient map
showed Antarctica accurately. The two fleets then seperate, one back
to east and ended at the west shore of Australia, then return to China from
there. Another going west and discovered New Zealand and East Australia.
It then goes north up to Phillipine, but instead of returning to China from
there, it goes along the ocean current
and reached the west coast of Canada, and then from there to California, Mexico
and then back to China. Finally, the third group continued from Verde island to
Carribbean islands, then going north to Massachusettes, then north to Greenland
from there they get near the north pole, then to Bering strait, and then
returned China from there. Mr. Menzies derived these routes because the
coastline of these area were charted on the maps he studied, and he also
claim as a veterian sailor himself he knew the current and winds. The impact
of these "discoveries", according to Mr Menzies, is that they directly influenced the European explores such as Christopher Columbus, who by the way togather
with his brother forged a map he knew to be incorrect to convince the
Spanish king to support his project, according to Mr. Menzies As supporting evidence besides these maps, Menzies cited stone stele found in
Verde island (but not in Chinese but in an Indian language), rocks and a strange
tower in Massachusettes, ship wrecks in Australia, New Zealand, and Sacramento
California, a strange "stone road" under water in the Bimini island of Carribean.
The similairity in culture and language of some native American tribes and those
of Chinese, folklore of native American and Australian aboriginal, and the fact that
Asiatic Chicken, coconut, rice and some other Asian animals and plants were found
in America, and the evidence that maize, sweet potato, yum were
found in Asia before the Europeans could bring them there. My general feeling is that this is more like an interesting novel rather than a history
book. Even to a layman like myself, it is clear that some of the so called evidence
(such as folklore, language and culture similarity) are little more than pure
speculation. The ship wrecks, even if they do exist, is not
necessarily from China, or even from
China is not necessarily from Zheng He's fleet. It seems to me that Mr. Menzies
has such strong conviction on this matter that he simply ignored obvious
alternative interpretations, and accepts only those which his theory favored. In the few places where I do have some knowledge, Mr. Menzies seem to
make many mistakes. For example, he claimed that Chinese do not eat
chicken meat and egg but only used chicken for divination, a custom also
found among native Americans. As a Chinese myself, I could testify that
Chinese do eat chicken and eggs, now as well as
in the past. As an astronomer myself, I must also shake my heads to the
passages where he describes ancient Chinese scientists observed the 1054
supernova, pulsar, quasar and neutron star---Chinese astronomer did
observe the 1054 supernova, but not the pulsar, which is the same as
the neutron star, that could only be observed with modern instrutments
such as radio telescope, and the 1054 supernova simply have nothing to do
with quasar). He also claim that the Chinese fleet passed this information
to native Americans who used it in their decorative art. Now although some
researchers do speculate that an native America art depicts
1054 supernova, this is still in doubt, and I am pretty sure even if it is true, it has
nothing to do with China: the 1054 supernova's importance is derived
from its impact on modern astrophysics, but to the ancient observers in China
this is merely one of thousands of equally striking phenomeneon in
the sky which they duely entered in their logbook. There is no known art
depict it in China. Given the quality on these things that I am familiar with, I doubt the validity of
the claims made by the author. Nevertheless, I found the book rather interesting
to read, especially when the author deals with maps and the geography of the
various places mentioned in the book, where he seems to be more at his depth.
The later chapters are a bit repeatative.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: I'm not sure if the reviewer from Publishers Weekly read the same book I did. This was an entertaining, well supported, and well written work. Menzies goes beyond many other "history-lite" books not written by academics by offering plenty of support and evidence for his theories. The strongest is the physical evidence--wrecks and artefacts that are clearly Chinese in origin found in VERY strange locations (so historians--how exactly DID they get there? I'd love to hear some of your theories *smile*).
The evidence he presents that later explorers ran across Chinese colonies in the new world is not quite as strong--many of these explorers came back from the new world with some pretty fantastic tales, so I'd take these with a grain of salt.
When I finished this book I was convinced. I highly doubt that events unfolded exactly as Menzies spells out, but I am certain that something similar happened. He has done a good enough job that I think it is now up to the haughty academics to try to come up with some other theory that will fit the evidence that is clearly right in front of their faces rather than sit in their ivory towers and hurl conceited and blind snubs down on this book and its author.
Rating: 
Summary: Discovered America?
Review: Apart from the Native Americans and Inuit themselves, ever heard of Leif Eirriksson?
Rating:
Summary: 2003: the Year We Discovered Columbus was Second!
Review: What is a former submarine commander to do upon retiring? Well this one simply decided to change history as we know it by writing the must read book of the year. Not a bad follow up to a career in the submarine service during the peak of the cold war. Commander Menzies has meticulously researched this book and used his extensive practical knowledge of navigation to retrace the voyages of the great Chinese explorers under Admiral Zheng He. The book is beautifully written and strikes a fine balance between being accessible to the layman while providing adequate detail for other navigators to follow his calculations. This is a superbly crafted book and the years of detailed research put into it come across in each of the arguments he presents. This book is a must read for any fan of Chinese or maritime history, fans of maritime stories or most importantly, history teachers who want to set the record straight.
Rating: 
Summary: Hold your Horses!
Review: I received my second MA in Chinese history back in 1998, and I spent 20 years recording history books for a blind history professor. My chief paper at school was precisely the Ming voyages and why they were discontinued; my main sources were Louise Levathes's "When China Ruled the Seas" and Mark Elvin's "The Pattern of the Chinese Past". My reaction to Menzies is that first I wouldn't accept uncritically all his assertions; I've been around long enough to know that authors sometimes fudge their data to support their pet thesis. But on the other hand, I wouldn't dismiss his book out of hand either. He's stated his thesis and now it's up to the scholarly community either to confirm it or to refute it. It's interesting that Levathes has already panned the book in a review that she wrote for the Washington Post; she based her criticism on what is already known about the Ming voyages. But I sincerely doubt that hers will be the last word.
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