KCR: 1434 by Gavin Menzies (the book)

1434 is sort of a sequel to 1421, where the author proposed the hypothesis that the Chinese "Treasure Fleet" have visited the America long before Cristobal Colon (a.k.a. Christopher Columbus) came along. In 1434, he goes a step beyond, proposing a hypothesis so outrageous and so contrary to existing history, you cannot help but to take notice, and dismiss the author as either a crackpot or a genius.

In the book 1434, Gavin Menzies claimed that the Renaissance did not arose spontaneously from reemergence of classical knowledge (read: Greek and Roman) but instead, is the result of a Chinese expedition fleet that landed in Venice in 1434. Vast amount of knowledge was given to the Italians by the Chinese, and it is THAT knowledge that sparked the Renaissance.

Initially, the idea is so outrageous, most will dismiss the idea is simply preposterous. However, Gavin Menzies manages to pull enough threads together to illustrate how his alleged history *could* have happened, and account for vast amount of similarities between some Chinese drawings... and drawings by none other than Leonardo DaVinci and his predecessors, and a ton of other interesting clues.

Again, this book is not a serious historical account or study. Gavin Menzies never claims to be a historian. Instead, Mr. Menzies has a theory, and is seeking various evidence to prove his theory. Thus, this hypothesis cannot be "proven" this way. On the other hand, the available information that seem to support this alternative theory is interesting enough that you would want to read it to the end, and make up your own mind whether the evidence warrants further study of this theory.

Rating: maybe borrow it from the library?

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• KCR: 1421 by Gavin Menzies (book) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)

KCR: 1421 by Gavin Menzies (book)

Image via WikipediaMenzies is not a professional historian, but he is a profiessional sailor, and he has an idea that has been meeting huge resistance in the scholarly community... Did Admiral Zheng He sailed his Chinese fleet out of Chinese waters and Southeast Asia, and in fact, may have sailed around the world long before Magellan and others, discovering America a hundred years before Columbus?

As a Chinese American, I am familiar with the story of Zheng He, though not in great detail. I recall reading "historical novels" about Zheng He.

Gavin Menzies was not a professional historian, and he approached this from the view of a sailor, both amateur and former British Navy. Much of his "proof" is a bit on the "thin" side, or a bit stretched. He also is not approaching it like a true historian: looking for both evidence for and against. Thus, a lot of historians automatically discounted him as a "freak" or "crazy guy". Indeed, on a PBS show of the same name, even some CHINESE historians doubt Menzies' claims.

On the other hand, there is a lot of evidence, and altogether there is enough to wonder if more can be found. While some of the evidence can be discounted by doubters, there is simply too much evidence to completely dismiss. There's even a book now called "The 1421 Heresy" that does have a real historian studying the 1421 theory and see what real evidence are there.

The book itself is rather informal, though you can see that Menzies is approaching the book from the angle of looking evidence to fit his theory, instead of a more formal approach. Still, it's a fun read, and makes you look at history in a whole new way.

Since then, many other books have been published that provides more about the puzzle. There's a book that claimed this old colony along Canadian shore may have been a Chinese colony.

Rating: Worth reading, borrow it from the library?

KCR: Don't Know How Much About Anything (non-fiction)

Cover via Amazon

"Don't Know Much About Anything" by Knneth C. Davis is basically a trivia collection about all sorts of famous people, things, places, and so on... Some items include George Washington, microwave oven, women in space, Psycho (the movie), and more.

This is basically stuff you could have found in Wikipedia, but never had a chance to. It's just a bunch of questions, and short answers, presented in a quiz format.

The problem here is some of the information given as answer is actually false, or wrong, or outdated.

Unless you've a trivia buff, you don't need this book, and even then you may want to double-check the numbers.

Rating: skip it