1491 update I'm about 1/3 of the way through 1491 (didn't have as much reading time in China as I thought) and so far it's pretty good. I'm agreeing with the reviews I've read so far, in that it's a good primer for much of New World prehistory (and history), but with some details that specialists can argue with. Still, its main value would be in bringing some of the history of the Americas to life in a way similar to that of the Old World. There are some good stories to be told, even apart from the basics of prehistory that people just don't know about.