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A review by hollyzone
1421: The Year China Discovered The World by Gavin Menzies
2.0
I see this book in every History section of every bookshop and the idea of something challenging conventional History does seem rather appealing, so I figured I'd give it a go.
And...
Well, it is certainly is an interesting read. I admit, I tend to read history books moderately critically, but not without immediately running to find any arguments and counter-arguments about it. But with this, right from the off, I was itching to see what other historians said about it. It's written in an engaging style, albeit one which does get repetitive after a while (it's looooooooooong). But it strained against credibility at times, as each successive discovery blasted away any lingering doubt the author's theories.
As it turns out most historians think this is a whole load of bunk. The way it presents itself as an injection of new perspectives and knowledge into the staid convention is well done in the text, but the holes, the convenient omissions, are all noticeable for the discerning reader (as you should be with any history books). It's a shame because it's seductively written, at least for the first 350 or so pages before the repetition renders it less compelling.
So two stars for being entertaining but the mislabelling of it as History means I couldn't really give it much more. History is one genre of books which can't be read in isolation, sorry.
And...
Well, it is certainly is an interesting read. I admit, I tend to read history books moderately critically, but not without immediately running to find any arguments and counter-arguments about it. But with this, right from the off, I was itching to see what other historians said about it. It's written in an engaging style, albeit one which does get repetitive after a while (it's looooooooooong). But it strained against credibility at times, as each successive discovery blasted away any lingering doubt the author's theories.
As it turns out most historians think this is a whole load of bunk. The way it presents itself as an injection of new perspectives and knowledge into the staid convention is well done in the text, but the holes, the convenient omissions, are all noticeable for the discerning reader (as you should be with any history books). It's a shame because it's seductively written, at least for the first 350 or so pages before the repetition renders it less compelling.
So two stars for being entertaining but the mislabelling of it as History means I couldn't really give it much more. History is one genre of books which can't be read in isolation, sorry.