Oh, My

Reposting the old Breaking the Master Narrative posts reminded me, yet again, how much I disliked Gavin Menzies' and his spectacularly pointless narrative of a non-existent 1421 Chinese voyage of discovery that circumnavigated the globe and put legendary islands on European maps.  It also reminded me that I once set out to debunk 1421, only to find myself endlessly frustrated by the fact that the book itself was based on nothing so much as Menzies' gnosis about the Chinese and was, therefore, difficult to wrestle to the ground.  I unceremoniously dumped that plan, but still occasionally thought about it.

Did you know, however, that Gavin Menzies wrote another book?  Specifically, did you know that Gavin Menzies wrote a book entitled 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance?  I was recently reminded of that fact.  If you've been paying attention of late, that subtitle should tell you exactly why I'm grinning right now.  Yes, Gavin Menzies wants to claim that a mysterious Chinese fleet kick-started the Renaissance by landing in Italy during, coincidentally enough, the final year of the Council of Florence.

The problem with 1421 is the dearth of evidence to refute it.  There should be no such problem with 1434.  So I shall be endeavoring to secure a copy of the work in order to mock it mercilessly.

Also, too, apparently Menzies put out yet another book last year: The Lost Empire of Atlantis: History's Greatest Mystery Revealed.

I, um, I...

I ain't touching that one.