Book Log #42: 1434 by Gavin Menzies

I started this book thinking it was related to 1491, Charles Mann's book that uses a variety of new research and methodologies to paint a very different picture of the pre-Columbian Western Hemisphere than that which has been typically presented. Instead, it's the follow up to 1421, in which Menzies theorizes a Chinese discovery of America.

Suffice it to say that I was sadly mistaken. Where Mann makes his argument based on published research and interviews with people in the field, most of Menzies' ideas seem to have sprung from his head while on vacations with his wife. In fact, both he and his wife are mentioned more often then any Chinese admiral in the parts of the book I could get through. Needless to say I didn't make it through the entire work, and while it may have taken a turn for the better, I'm doubting it did.

Even so, I am interested in a suggested third book in the series, where Menzies will apparently argue that legendary admiral Zheng He is buried somewhere around Asheville, North Carolina. I'm looking forward to an Al Capone's vault-style TV special for if and when he finds Zheng's tomb.