total timepass...

A lot of us assume what we know about the world to be true. And when new findings comes out in the open, the world as we know it changes. There are sometimes small new truths that change our view like ' daily flossing doesn't really help ' or the bigger ones like 'Pluto is no longer a planet'. I recently read a book which describes how much more we have learnt about old American civilisations and how it has changed our view of the Americas. In the same vein, I recently saw a show talking about the map of the world as we know it and the reality which is different. I had read about this difference many times before - how the relative size of the continents is not really accurate, and how that played into the hands of the imperialist powers. But somehow. I had never looked at the alternate 'more accurate' maps ever. Till I did! It felt creepy and unnatural! Its not the same world view as we have seen and known for years, what we were taught at school and ...

1491 is a non-fiction book on the history of the Americas before Columbus arrived there. The focus is not as much on providing a comprehensive history as on debunking a lot of myths propagated about the Americas by the colonists. These myths have been proved wrong by latest archaeological findings but not accepted as much as they should have been. There is a clear bias visible in the book against the so called white intellectuals. And while reading it, you also realise how much archaeologists are still finding about the Americas. Its still not as well known as we all assume and it may be that whatever was known till now may be absolutely wrong! There are three major myths that the author disproves, citing latest findings over the years and across the continent. The review below is not a comprehensive review, just a couple of interesting tidbits I found interesting. P.s. I use Indians below instead of Red Indians in keeping with the terminology in the book Myth : there were very...