There are some books that come to our attention through curious routes and then strike us as books "we were meant to read." I suppose in some ways, this is true for many books. Perhaps it is proof of the old saying, "Chance favors the prepared mind."
When my GoogleLitTrips.com project was selected by the Asia Society to receive the Goldman Sachs Foundation Prize for Excellence in Education, I was invited to New York City to receive the prize and there, in passing, it was suggested that 1421 might be a good book to do a Lit Trip on. Though I found the book a bit outside of the parameters of the Lit Trip project, I found it eye-opening to say the least.
I had forever been aware of the "controversy" relating to the claims that Christopher Columbus "discovered" the new world. It had long been in my cognizance that the Vikings had been to the Americas earlier. And, of course, how can one claim to have discovered a land when the land one "discovers" is inhabited by millions of people with clear signs of advanced civilization?
I had also only recently become aware of the extent of the Portuguese sailing history, suggesting that Columbus was following fairly well-known routes that the Portuguese were well aware of.
But, this book, which offers extensive evidence that the Chinese were sailing the entire world long before either the Portuguese or Columbus was essentially complete news to me.
One beauty of the book for me is it's support for my serious belief in photographer Aaron Siskind's quote which I had posted above my black, then, green, then white board in my classroom for over 30 years. It was Siskind who said, "We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there."
I love this book because it verifies that what we know, or what we believe we know about history (and perhaps everything else) quite possibly is sufficiently less than what there is to know and therefore an indicator that we ought to always make room for the possibility that a complete reality check may always be in order.
Was it coincidence then that through virtually no pre-planning or awareness on my part, that in traveling to New York to receive my prize, that "coincidentally" a friend of mine from the Apple Distinguished Educator group would "happen" to be invited to attend the ceremony, not knowing that I was to be one of the recipients? And that he would because of this "coincidence" invite me to join him in presenting at a conference in China on 21st Century Learning? And, that, I would then use part of the prize money to fund my attendance where I would find ample evidence of the stories of 1421 to be documented in multiple museums?
It is true and always refreshing to be reminded that "The more we know, the more we come to understand how little we know."
Great book!

First off, I will start off by saying that I do NOT believe the Chinese beat the Europeans to the New World. I just think the evidence just is not compelling enough.

However that doesn't mean that they could NOT have. They certainly had the navy, the navigational skills (no worse than the Europeans), and the funding and ingenuity to accomplish it. And that is precisely what this book seeks to theorize. Of course there is not any historian that wants to make any money "theorizing" unless you are stictly in the academic community. In which case you then are not making any money.

But I digress.

Gavin Menzies has decided to theorize that the Chinese could and did in fact do exactly what the title promises. He makes a compelling case and this book is very readible to the amateur history buff. Which is why it gets 4 stars. You will read and really think that maybe the textbooks have been wrong the whole time.

But like any good, compelling history, the reader should now get enough information and go find out for themselves what is really believable. Especially with a theory like this one that would literally turn history on its head. And after doing some further reading, you realize that Mr. Menzies simply does not have enough solid data to support this claim.

But the book is well written and he makes a compelling case. Just not a slam dunk nor anything close. But fun to think about nonetheless.

Read half of this and it was not engaging, unbelievable wild goose chase!

I recently read one of Ben Bova's science fiction novels, JUPITER. In this novel, a group of scientists on a research station orbiting Jupiter embark on a mission to determine if there is life on the great planet. The commander of the station is Chinese and names the space probe that will go to Jupiter, the Zheng He. The commander explains to the crew that Zheng He was a 15th century Chinese admiral who commanded seven expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded. Although I hadn't really heard much else about Zheng, I remembered that I had this book, 1421, on my shelves for several years and that it related that Zheng and other Chinese admirals supposedly explored much more of the world. Anyway, I decided to read the book and draw my conclusions from it.

1421 is a very well-researched book and unequivocally states that the Chinese explored and colonized much of the world from 1421-1423. Menzies asserts that the records of these voyages were destroyed by the Chinese Emperor based on a self-imposed isolation from the world after the destruction of the Forbidden City in Beijing by fire. The book propounds that four Chinese fleets circumnavigated the world and were comprised of more than 800 vessels containing both sailors and concubines. These fleets charted the world and supposedly passed these charts and maps on to Portugal. The charts were then used by European explorers including Columbus, Dias, da Gama, and Magellan. According to the book, the Chinese sailors and concubines settled in Malaysia, India, Africa, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and other islands in the Pacific. The fleets went as far as Antarctica in the South and around Greenland in the North.

Menzies does use some somewhat compelling evidence in his research including maps that predated Columbus, stone carvings from various locations around the world, DNA evidence showing that natives in various locations have Chinese DNA, etc. But how much of this is true? Looking on line, I have found many people who debunk Menzies claims and some compare him to Erich von Däniken and his claims of ancient aliens who colonized the earth.

Overall, I found this book to be very interesting although it was sometimes repetitious. I confess that I skimmed a lot of the last chapters of the book. But in my opinion, based on what is known about Zheng He and the Chinese treasure fleets, it could be feasible that the fleets could have gone much further than records show. But if Menzies theories are somewhat accurate, why haven't mainstream historians and scientists latched onto this possibility and further developed it? Overall, I would mildly recommend this but whether or not it is true is left up to the reader.

It is hard to explain the awfulness of this book fact-wise(the fact that there is actually a web site dedicated to to doing this should tell you something). It consists of a long list of anecdotes along the lines of "when I was in the navy, I saw a pile of moss covered rocks on the beach in South America that had a shape vaguely similar to that of a collapsed Chinese temple - further proof of Chinese contact with America!"

I like a good wild theory as much as anyone, and typically enjoy reading about them and considering them ("The Deep Hot Biosphere" is a favorite), but I need a FEW FACTS to make it palatable - not an author posturing as if he was an authority to trick people without strong analytical abilities in to believing him. Menzies just rolls out a long list of vague assertions with really no proof other than his own belief(which I don't doubt), and acts as if a long list of vague assertions has more validity together than they would separately. I am not some ivory tower type either, who gets all wound up because sources are vague, or a few of the facts might be slightly off. I'll overlook some speculation or inaccuracies if the actual evidence you DO have is compelling and you are just filling in some blanks. But 100% speculation and 0% facts is a little tough to swallow.

I normally don't go out of my way to slam a book, but since this guy didn't fade in to obscurity after his first book & actually seems to be gaining a following, people need to be warned.

I really wanted to like this book. Sadly it became a long, non-stop series of suppositions along the lines of Chariots of the Gods. If I had to read one more mention of the Asian chickens in the New World I would have gone mad!Or another use of "the ONLY thing this could mean was that the Chinese had been there before anyone!" He has a lot to learn about inescapable conclusions and the evidence leading up to them. I gave it one star for the few things I actually found interesting, but given the rest of the book it makes me want to double check even those.

Too bad.

This author is terrible. TERRIBLE! He is not a real historian. His research is full of giant, gaping holes. And he makes WILD assumptions with his so-called evidence, when his own research does not unequivocally support his theory. He takes every presumption and assumes fact just because one can't disprove his theory.

He's absolutely terrible and apparently has written multiple books. I never finished this book, I just simply stopped reading because I couldn't take it any more.

So silly. It was closer to fantasy than history; or, it was a very long conspiracy theory. Read as fiction it is enjoyable while being unbelievable.

There needs to be an option for "I stopped reading this."

I started this book literally years ago and couldn't get into it. Now I'm reading it and don't want to be into it. I actually agree with his premise. I was reading it to follow through his proof. I think it's highly likely that China was all over the globe before European travelers. That idea does not threaten me at all. I just don't like his side tangents that were handpicked by an adolescent boy. Whatever. Some books just don't click with people. I'm done trying on this one.

Utterly fascinating! I was completely enthralled by this book and the remarkable evidence provided by Gavin Menzies. Maps predating Columbus clearly showing the east coast of the Americas. Ancient Chinese artistic methods found in small communities in western Mexico. Wrecks of Chinese junks found all across the globe. Best of all... DNA.

My condemnation for this pack of fantasized lies knows no bounds. It would have made an excellent work of historical fiction, were it not presented as fact.

A distortion, and one made popular at that. It will be decades before the ill that this has wrought is undone.

Conclusions not supported by evidence.