1421

Another week gone- and not a bad one. I've pleaded illness by letter to the Office Supervisor on the tax disc offence, which is more than partially true, and am waiting to hear back about the extent of my mitigation and their leniency. Hopefully the traffic police gods will be merciful.

This week, starting on the overnight shift on Tuesday night, I've been reading Gavin Menzies' '1421'. I'd hoped it would be along the lines of '1491', a really decent book about pre-Columbian culture in the New World, but no.

It's all about how the Chinese discovered the New World, Australia, the Arctic and Antarctic in voyages between 1421 and 1423, then the records were wiped out by succeeding emperors and mandarins. It's a great story, but the book is shite. Clues to its shiteness are a reliance on the word 'I' in the narrative and basic scientific mistakes. 'I' requested carbon-dating and was refused, 'I' found Tamil inscriptions on New World stelae, 'I' have been thwarted in my research... The scientific evidence is shite too. According to Menzies, 'Chinese genes' are found in American native populations and a 'Chinese speaking' tribe is found in Venezuala. The very idea of 'Chinese' genes is ridiculous, for all we humans are related and the colonisation of the Americas is presumed to have taken place by emigration over the Bering landbridge around 13 to 20 thousand years ago. The author is simply in love with the idea of Chinese superiority and technological sophistication in the mediaeval age, without regard to the fact that other technological advances were being made independently but contemporaneously elsewhere.

More evidence is presented via an argument of incredulity, that certain ancient sites in the New World are just too advanced to have been locally made, for the Chinese are the ubermensch and local technologies are retarded. I can't believe I'm persisting with this piece of nonsense, except to gather further evidence of its numptiness. I'm reminded of 'Chariot of the Gods', and not in a good way. It's going to the charity shop as soon as it's finished.