Negative Positive
Title: Fascinating review of new research
Review: The best way to sample this book would be to read the original essay: [...] I saw that at the time, and found it pretty fascinating already. The book expands massively on the essay, as it should, but the basic thesis is there.1491 falls into the genre of authors telling us what we know is wrong, which is interesting but makes a skeptical reader ask if the claims are overblown or even true. (Cf. Gavin Menzies's _1421_, which does not seem to hold up.) Charles Mann provides so many references that his books turn out to be rather shorter than they first appear, but it's comforting that his claims are also consistent with various news articles and other facts. E.g. [...]And claims that Indians managed North America with fire are made more plausible by my having read Stephen Pyne's books on the use of fire in land management, including by the Australian aborigines.
Is the review positive or negative? 