Actual rating: 1/2 star.

I like pseudo-science (and sometimes pseudo-history), but I couldn't finish this one. In large part that is because it is so poorly written, and so repetitive (Menzies informs us six times that he is a retired Royal Navy captain. In the first chapter.), and Menzies shows such a poor grasp on what good evidence is, that I had to bail.

I'm with the late Carl Sagan that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" (and surely the claim that the Chinese discovered America is an extraordinary one), and Menzies doesn't provide anything like "extraordinary evidence." He does provide a lot of pretty pictures in the insert, which is why I give this one half a star.

I actually didn't finish. Me saying that says a lot as I'm not a quitter and will usually plow through anything. I must say, this is only the second book as far as I could remember that I couldn't finish. I've been forcing myself to try to read this book for over 4 months. The beginning was really interesting (this explains the 1 1/2 stars) as the history of the Chinese history during this era of discovery. Unfortunately, the author became so caught up in proving his theory that the book increasingly became a history paper. I respect his knowledge and the detail but as someone who is reading for leisure, the exact nautical calculations became so much of an overkill that I lost interest in reading the book.

It's too bad that not much in this book is true. Mentzies is a good writer, capable of bringing you into his version of history. Unfortunately, his version is unsupported by facts.
Red flag number one: the references to other sources all come back to Menzies. If he is the only source, we have to wonder why nobody else found the same things. Red flag number two: the ships he suggests are several times larger than the known largest wooden ships ever built and being made of wood, would not be strong enough for an ocean voyage. So, a few interesting claims, but so far the evidence is lacking. Find your Chinese ship in CA, date it, establish the navigation for this specific ship, and then we'll talk again.

Now, as a work of fiction....

I found this book to be incredibly fascinating. While many would find reading a book about history and sailing and discovery of the world, perhaps dull and boring. I was completely enthralled and interested throughout the entire book. I loved the included pictures of artifacts and maps, as well as look forward to exploring the accompanying website. The facts as presented prove the false narrative taught of Columbus discovering north or even South America, of Cook discovering Australia, of Magellan, and others given credit for world lands discovery as all completely false. China was a far advanced country and civilization that spent 2 years sailing massive fleets around the world, being the first to discover the new worlds and new people. However, their approach was with harmony and peace, unfortunately not how later "discovery" encounters proceeded. The notion of Chinese DNA being in various tribes and peoples around the world to me is the piece that seals it for me. Along with the artifacts and buildings. History has always fascinated me, and I learned so much about the advanced society that was in China, decades ahead of the rest of the world, but even learned about sailing and world ocean current and winds. While this doesn't read as a textbook, it does contain a lot of information and some details and explanations that I admit when a bit over my head. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the true history and amazing talents required in the discovery of the "world"