Water Sources -- In Search of Columbus: The Sources for the First Voyage by David Henige / The Voyage of Christopher Columbus: Columbus' Own Journal of Discovery translated by John Cummins / The Voyages of Columbus by Richard Humble / and others

Whatever the truth behind Columbus' actions and motivations, precious little evidence exists to confirm or deny the various theories. David Henige's In Search of Columbus: The Sources for the First Voyage (University of Arizona Press, $24.95) questions both the reliability and authenticity of early documents, including the 'diario', the only surviving form of Columbus' shipboard log, itself a copy, which Henige argues is a work of many pens that has been transcribed far too frequently to be relied on as an accurate source.

'We saw large numbers of dolphins,...