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The subject of this book, the Chinese exploratory voyages of the early 15th century, is an interesting one, and questions remain as to exactly how far they got and what they did. Unfortunately, there is little factual information in this book that is not to be found in other sources, and the novel claims are poorly substantiated. All too often, the "facts" cited are wrong, the nature of the argument Menzies means to make is unclear, or the evidence that he claims to exist is not actually produced. Let me illustrate from some of Menzies linguistic arguments. He claims that the Squamish language (which he mistakenly locates on Vancouver Island rather than on the coast of the mainland of British Columbia) contains no less than forty words that are identical with Chinese words. He does not cite any of the Squamish words and cites only three Chinese words. Not one of the three alleged Chinese words actually occurs in Chinese. At another point, he cites the fact that there is a village in Peru whose people speak Chinese. Aside from the questionable source of this claim, even if true, what would it prove? To constitute evidence that the Chinese had visited Peru prior to Columbus, he would have to show that the people in this village had spoken Chinese hundreds of years ago. He does not even assert this, much less provide evidence of it. Menzies' own account of his research techniques leaves one gasping with incredulity at his incompetence. He claims to have inspected a stone inscription in the Cape Verde Islands in a language unknown to him. Thinking that it might be from India, he sends a photograph of it to the Bank of India. The Bank responds that the inscription is in Malayalam. In response to Menzies' query as to what Malayalam might be, according to Menzies the bank responds that it is a language now spoken by only a few people but was more widely used in the 15th century. In point of fact, Malayalam is the principal language of the state of Kerala and is spoken by over 35 million people. It is one of the 22 languages listed in Schedule 8 of the Constitution of India. I am hard put to believe that the Bank of India told him that a language of which any educated Indian is well aware is spoken by only a few people, but if they did, it is stunning that he never bothered to make any further enquiry about it. Simply googling for Malayalam produces 185,000 hits. His own account reveals Menzies to be incompetant as a researcher. Incidentally, he never reveals what the inscription says, assuming that he ever found out. You'd think it would be relevant. As it stands, we are apparently to assume that the only way an inscription in Malayalam might have ended up in the Cape Verde islands is by having been written by someone travelling with Zheng He. It is at least as likely that a ship from India was responsible. In the areas with which I am familiar, not a single argument is even plausible, much less convincing. Menzies' website, which is supposed to provide details that could not be included in the book as well as new information, is no improvement. The missing 37 Chinese words and 40 Squamish words, for instance, are not to be found on the website. This book is junk, pure and simple. If you want to learn about the voyages of Zheng He, read Louise Levathes' When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne 1405-1433. Unlike Menzies, Levathes knows what she is talking about.