I had no idea there was an on going debate about where Columbus landed in the new world. When I visited St. Croix, they seemed pretty sure he had come ashore at Salt River landing site we visited. Who knew there was an island that he was not clear about! Well,Keith Pickering is sure he's solved the mystery (though the debate still seems to be ongoing...) and if you can get past Pickering's gloating and crowing, you'll find it's not a bad read and may even have solve the mystery of where Columbus landed. Though knowing historians, more research and proof will be needed. Hard evidence that everyone accepts, that is...

I’ve never heard about an island of Guanahani. So it is always interesting to learn something new. However, the style of writing is very pretense, sometimes coming across arrogant, instead of simply stating facts and supporting them.

A pretty interesting read, although at times a little overwhelming in terms of detail.

Where to begin is the perplexing question when faced with such a tour de force of a book. For this book is not only the propagation of a theory of exactly where Christopher Columbus first set foot on the new island in the New World but also the culmination of years of devotional work in the propagation of Keith Pickering's theory of the identity of this island .

The historical background is that Columbus named this island San Salvador but the inhabitants called it Guanahani. Columbus was to stay there less than 3 days and would never return but the exact location would remain a mystery with a number of competing theories.

Keith's story begins at the US Naval Institute debate on the landfall in April 1992 where the theory that the first landfall was the Plana Cays ( being a group of two small islands in the southern Bahama Islands) was revived. But this was a subject of much controversy with ten different islands being proposed as Guanahaní throughout history. It is the solving of this mystery by a variety of scientific and mathematical methods together with the application of historical research that makes the reader marvel at the sheer determination to the cause by Keith even when faced with questions that at first sight seemed to perhaps dispel his theory.

Fact is laid upon fact and there are pages of mathematical calculus (that can in my case be quickly passed through) adding to the building up for the case for the Plana Cays. There are also maps to be viewed and aspects of astronomy, metrology and oceanography to be considered all set out in a logical and lucid manner. Each of the other theories are documented and dissected in a forensic manner. The book can be read as that of a detective who has cracked a complex case.

The book may not to be to everyone's taste and it does need some concentration and a bit of stamina to complete but for me it was worthwhile and certainly by the end the Plana Cays seemed the most likely if not the only possible identity for Guanahani.

3.5 stars!

I've always had an interest towards Christopher Columbus, his voyage to the new world and the era he lived in but I've got to admit I almost knew nothing about the mystery that is Guanahani. So I did learn quite a few things that I hadn't know before. I really liked that.

It was also clear that it was very well-written and researched so this book and the author definitely gets bonus points for that. And I like how the scientific method can be successfully applied to historical problems, as it says in the synopsis.

But I found myself getting easily distracted because the book dragged just a little bit and the scientific stuff was sometimes confusing to me. Though this doesn't change the fact that The Lost Island of Columbus: Solving the Mystery of Guanahani by Keith A. Pickering was a very interesting and enlightening nonfiction.