I was browsing books at the local bookstore (weeks ago) and picked up a copy of Gavin Menzies’ book 1434 in Spanish, well because it’s hard to look away with a caption like “The Year a Chinese Fleet reached Italy and started the Renaissance.” I’m not a book reader, I’m not a historian, and I’ve learnt to take everything I read or hear or see (documentaries) with a grain of salt… even more so when my sources tell me “they are free and independent” because I know how the media works. I hate journalists, and I hate news reporters…

To be honest, I’m very likely to believe things written on this book, because at this point in time I have a very deep dislike with everything dealing with the West.

You gotta admit that’s a pretty bold statement, and it is interesting. If you think Menzies is full of shit for saying this, what makes you think anything written anywhere else is true? Take my school days as example. When I was around 13, we used to have a Chinese Culture class where we learned about Chinese geography, a bit of history, folk tales. In this class we learned about The 4 Great Chinese Inventions. Later the same week, we would get History class on universal history, where they would tell us Gutenberg invented Printing. So, what the fuck. What gives?

So should I believe one or the other? Why should I believe one over the other? This is all I have to say after reading a lot of hate towards 1421 (Menzies’ first book).

Fact is, there are some similarities between indigenous people in Peru and across the Altiplano, and the Amazon, and minorities in China, Taiwan and all across South East Asia. And you didn’t have to read the book to notice that, you only need to watch the news, and documentaries to see their cultures, rituals and physical traits.

On the book itself… it’s a pretty messy read. Like a experimental film edited to jump back and forth, only in written form. Book could’ve been shorter and more straight to the point, instead of musing over Menzies activities. I don’t fucking care if you were a sailor, or if you went with your family to the DaVinci’s exhibits around the world. LOL

The illustrations and other image inserts is also a mess. I hate it and makes the book very amateur, but I think all these books suffer from the same crap. Cheap design. After all, it’s all about content, right? Whatever.

Rating: 3/5