Rating: 
Summary: Great book, ridiculous "review"
Review: Another reviewer claims to be a Chinese from Shanghai, China. Ok, well, I am actually an extraterrestrial from Neptune, and believe it or not, I find that the attitudes and behavior of the book's critics are ridiculous! Yes, of course, it's "neat", this ploy that anyone can claim another identity on the anonymous Internet in order to boost the credibility of his/her words. But let's be real. We all want to read honest, logical, and insightful reviews and critiques where we have come to expect on this page. Disguising yourself behind a thinly-veiled false identity is not the way to achieve this. To any intelligent observer, that reader's fluent use of American lingo and idioms certainly doesn't jive with his claim to be from Shanghai, China. There are good English-speakers from China, but you cannot be THAT good. The "great America" term is the only awkward part of your review, but don't you think that was a little too easy? You could've made a better disguise by subtly inserting more awkward phrases and grammatical mistakes. On top of that, your "review" contains no facts or logical reasoning, but only vitriolic attacks against the author. Do you think most people here are so dumb that they'll just buy into your pathetic identity trick? So like I said, if you call yourself a Chinese from Shanghai, China, then I can assure you that I'm a Neptunian from Neptune.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Enjoyable Read
Review: Did China's fleets chart the lands of the earth long before the Europeans? Perhaps. But whether or not you agree with Gavin Menzies' conclusions you will most certianly be entertained by this fascinating and thought-provoking research.China, during the Ming Dynasty under reign of Zhu Di, was a nation foremost in wealth, power and technology. It was within this context that China launched the Treasure Fleet under Admiral Zheng He with the mandate "to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas...to attract all under heaven to be civilised in Confucian harmony". Did Zheng He succeed? Menzies lays out a litany of evidence including maps predating European exploration; carbon dating sunken ships; stone monuments; DNA and linguistics; plant and animal migration; and the journals of explorers such as Columbus and Verrazzano to support his argument that he did indeed. While some of Menzies' arguments may require a little leap of faith and some of his conclusions may be the result of his exuberance of discovery his book is, nonetheless, certainly plausible and undeniably enjoyable. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much unneccessary and unproven speculation
Review: In the future, Mr. Menzies theses may prove to be correct. Like many people, I find it intellectually stimulating to discover that I need to revise what I believe to be true. All I gained from this book, though, is a feeling that I have been tempted with fine wine and ended up with a picture of a grape drawn with a crayon. Mr. Menzies could have stopped the book at the introduction where he raises his questions as to the origin of the information contained on several seemingly authentic maps. Of the over 380 pages in this book, maybe 30 pages contain any useful information, and none of that is original discovery or insight from Mr. Menzies. The rest is invention, supposition and endless extrapolation of questionable observations. The maps mentioned in the introduction show that the author of the maps had a detailed knowledge of islands and continents that, according to popular belief, were as yet "undiscovered" at the time of the drawing of the maps. Given that the maps are authentic, which Mr. Menzies does not help to establish, the sum of the evidence begs the question "Who surveyed these 'undiscovered' places?". An account of his search to answer his own question could have been far more entertaining, and probably useful, than this rediculous book. His book is far from being a scholarly, well documented, proven thesis: I hope that is determined to be a work of fiction and not history when being shelved in the world's libraries. That the Chinese were adept sailors with a tremendous fleet in the early 1400's is undisputable. Please buy and read the other reccomended books if you are interested in that subject. That any ship caught in the tradewinds and currents of the earth's oceans would make landfall at the places where Mr. Menzies finds "evidence" of the supposed "epic journeys" of the Ming dynasty fleets, is almost painfully obvious. The observations made by Mr. Menzies, though, do not prove that there was a systematic surveying of the world conducted by the Ming fleet between 1421 and 1423. Only that sailing ships will make landfall where the winds and currents meet land. Unfortunately, Mr. Menzies fails to provide any substantial, reviewable, evidence that the collective observations of Chinese or Chinese-like objects found around the world prove that there was a systematic survey. Only that Chinese and East-Asian objects have been dispersed across the world. What Mr. Menzies does do is provide a disorganized catalog of observations connected by almost absurd conclusions about the origin of every pre-Columbian map, ship-wreck, rock painting, structure, legend and tranplantation of plants and animals that he can infer, document or invent. A well documented book about the orgin of the information on the pre-Columbus, pre-Magellan and pre-Cook maps would be a wonderful read. This is not that book.
Rating:
Summary: Phony
Review: It is probable that the Chinese (and the Japanese) sailed the Pacific before Europeans did, so I was interested in reading Gavin Menzies book. Unfortunately, the evidence he has to validate his thesis that great Chinese treasure fleets sailed the world and charted the coasts of America in 1421-23 doesn't stand up. Any attempt to independently check his evidence shows that it is based on old anecdotes, extracts from websites devoted to the paranormal, and so forth. Even his citation of the locations of wreck sites is full of errors and the wrecks that he cites as being "very old" have turned out to be no more than a couple of hundred years old.
Rating:
Summary: I'd be rich, had I written it....
Review: I am Chinese, and believe it or not, I think that this book is ridiculous. Yes, of course, it's 'neat', this idea that the great America was discovered by someone from China...but let's be real. I want foreigners to respect and take my country and culture seriously. Making up a fairy tale such as this one is not the way to achieve this.
Having read the book, I will admit that the author spins a good yarn; he's very convincing. But it's a fantasy.
I wish that I had thought of writing this book, then I could be rich!
Rating:
Summary: Discovery of America by Chinese explorers
Review: This part of history has been neglected, and it is about time It is about time for this for it to be set straight. As explained in the book, The records were mostly destroyed when China turned inward. The Chinese themselves have not claimed credit for the voyages of Zheng He. Further research could no doubt be done, especially in finding evidence of Chinese landings at a variety of places. Nevertheless, this is an important book and well written. A minor defect is the confusion resulting from the recording of Chinese names sometimes in official pinyin and sometimes in Wade-Giles romanization.
Rating:
Summary: A complete reversal of what I learned at school.
Review: So much for Captain Cook and all that. This book laughs in the face of everything I was taught in history at school. It was a complete eye-opener for me and I think this a great book for anyone who is right into Chinese history like I am. Mr Menzies presents a very convincing argument backed up with evidence from all over the world and from all different authorities on a variety of subjects. Totally immersing read.
Rating: 
Summary: An Entertaining, Yet Moderately Written Work
Review: The book 1421 provides a well supported, yet controversial, thesis that would only further the inaccuracies in many of the modern history books provided to the western public. Menzies provides maps, personal logs from European as well Asian explorers, DNA evidence, carbon dating from wrecks believed to be Chinese junks, and historical documents to support his claims that the Chinese were the first to circumnavigate and map the globe. Despite his overwhelming amounts of evidence, much of the book seems to leave out key facts and is, at best, moderately written. Menzies left out sizable amounts of the journeys described, and it is evident that he probably spent more time on the first chapters than the later chapters. He also has a tendency to write of stories and surroundings that have little or no significance in respect to the travels of the ancient Chinese. The writing style exhibited by Menzies in 1421 is lacking, often going off on tangents and skipping over certain facts and details that would have been very useful in proving his thesis. Also, due to Menzies' background his book will likely be declared unscholarly and be disregarded by the majority of scholars and professors as merely another outrageous theory. As for future releases of this book, it would likely be much more welcome if produced by a person with a highly respected historical background. Future editions would also be better received if published in five volumes; the first four dedicated to each of the four voyages, and the last of the five being an encyclopedia of the supporting evidence (with scans of the involved maps and documents). Overall the book provides more factual (and plausible) evidence as to how the Piri Reis and the Bimini Stones came to be than any other widely read western author to date and provides a well supported thesis. Menzies' 1421 has earned an eternal place in my personal collection and will be an entertaining read for any audience. Menzies should be applauded for his rather controversial work.
Rating: 
Summary: If only this could be true
Review: Gavin Menzies has hit upon a mystery no less intriguing than the pyramids, alien visitation, and the origin of Native Americans. Could the Chinese have discovered virtually every continent decades or centuries before the europeans? Are early Chinese explorers the compilers of so many early maps; maps that aided the european explorers that followed them? The list of questions goes on and on. According to Mr. Menzies in 1421: The Year China Discovered America, the Chinese did all of this and much, much more. But Carl Sagan once said that extraordinary claims call for extraordinary proof. And that's the problem with this book. The proof in most cases isn't scientific but rather based on hunches.
1421: The Year China Discovered America certainly isn't short on research. Menzies takes his time spinning his theory, a dab of evidence here and a dab of evidence there. But in the end the whole idea is based on a house of cards. One nagging thought I kept having while I was reading this is why the Chinese didn't sail up the Thames? They went everywhere else/
One thing is apparently clear from reading this book. The history we've been taught in school and have come to believe as true can't be complete. While I don't accept all that Menzies has to sell, I do believe that he is correct in that the Chinese had more contact with civilizations around the world than we have thought true. Is everything he says true. Hardly. But I believe he has hit upon some tantalizing ideas. Better research from better sources in the future may make what is dim and blurry as clear as truth.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Credible & An Enjoyable Reading Experience
Review: Inspiring thought and highly conceivable collection of evidences written by ex-British Royal Navy, Gavin Menzies, who proclaimed that it's the Chinese who discovered the America (not Columbus !!) along with many other places on the planet in early fifteen century. Pretty shocking, right? But he comes with solid proof and arguments. Very enjoyable reading. Definitely one of my favorites for the year. I have introduced this to many friends in Hong Kong and China already.
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