I just finished Gavin Menzies‘ page-turner ‘1434,’ a book that proposes that a Chinese fleet visited Italy in that year and brought along with it world maps that paved the way for the European ‘Age of Exploration’ and technical documents that laid the groundwork for many Renaissance ‘inventions.’ The controversial book is largely an amateur work; Menzies relies on the unpaid contributions of dozens of researchers and hundred of contributors to his first best-seller’s web site, 1421.tv. What is refreshing about the writing style is that he is self-conscious about the uncertainty of his hypotheses; constant references are made to evidence that has yet to be found, evidence that merits further study, and hypotheses that still depend on future work to even be proposed. It speaks as much of history as about the research process. Menzies’ greatest contribution – theories aside – is the open disclosure of a research project so massive that it depends on the contributions and collaboration from thousands around the world to advance.
One Comment