John Gould

How did Greek literature and cultural assumptions / world-view interact? John Gould examines ancient Greek ideas concerning myth, ritual, memory, and exchange. An overriding interest in anthropological fieldwork shapes his argument. The book contains the most significant essays (some now regarded as classics) written by one of the world's foremost experts in Greek mythology and culture over the last thirty years, including many previously unpublished papers. Newly revised, with reference both to corroborative material and to subsequent treatments and discussion of significantly different approaches to the same topics, these essays give the whole volume a marked coherence of focus and argument. Most of the essays arise out of the experience of teaching and address problems, puzzles, and misunderstandings encountered by students.

At the heart of this book lies a concern with the interaction between the cultural assumptions and world-view of ancient (and often of modern) Greeks and their literature. John Gould examines the myths, rituals, memory, and exchange of ancient Greeks with an overriding interest in anthropological field-work which helps to shape his argument. The book contains the most significant essays (some now regarded as classics) written by one of the world's foremost experts in Greek mythology and culture over the last thirty years, including several previously unpublished papers. Newly revised, with reference both to corroborative material and to subsequent treatments and discussion of significantly different approaches to the same topics, these papers offer a marked coherence of focus and argument which informs the whole volume. Most of the essays arise out of the experience of teaching and address problems, puzzles, and misunderstandings encountered by students.

This text brings new approaches to Herodotus' sources and to his methods of collecting information, to the logic of his narrative and to his understanding of human behaviour. Drawing on recent advances in the understanding or oral tradition, the author takes issue with a number of theories about Herodotus' historical thinking. Herodotus as a story teller, he argues, does not preclude Herodotus as a historian; reciprocity is central to his method; Herodotos' declared subject, the Persian Wars, is itself Herodotus' own construct, embodied in the form of continuous narrative derived from a mass of local and family traditions that reach back far into the past and encompass most of the known world. The book concludes that only a rejection of modern historiographical values that will bring us to the realisation of Herodotus' historiographical importance: we must see him as enacting in narrative the social memory of his own generation.

Rainwater Catchment Systems for Domestic Supply provides a state-of-the-art review of practice in the collection of rainwater. It presents case studies with numerous examples from around the world which will help anyone intending to design or construct a rainwater catchment system. The prime focus of the book is on implementation of roof and ground catchment systems for meeting either total or supplementary household water requirements. All aspects of design and construction are covered including simple methods of sizing systems, erection of gutters, choice of materials, construction techniques, training, operation and maintenance. In addition, non-technical factors such as water quality, health, social, cultural, political, institutional and gender issues are discussed. The text is fully supported with drawings and photographs and a detailed illustrated step-by-step account is provided of how to build several different types of household rainwater tanks with volumes from 2 to 90 cubic metres. Rainwater Catchment Systems is based on practical experience and lessons learnt during over 20 years constructing and researching rainwater systems in Africa and Asia.It will be of use and interest to project managers, development workers, water engineers, architects, builders, researchers and appropriate technology enthusiasts.

Affectionately named "the Grandfathers' retreats," these sojourns into the depths of the Maine woods have inspired Gould's finest and most emotionally resonant writing to date. With a naturalist's sensitivity to his environment, and his great good humor, Gould writes of hiking through dense forests, of fly fishing for salmon and trout in deserted creeks, of campside culinary triumphs, and of friendship and shared reflections on careers, family, and the modern world. The resulting book is a wonderful, memorable meditation on the beauty of the Maine woods and on John Gould's ever-interesting life.

In these observations on the inhabitants of his Maine seacoast village, Mr. Gould addresses important matters. For example, there is the question of why there are two churches in a town of 800 souls, some of whom were atheists. It seems that the split between the two congregations was a matter of both free will and logic. The devotional division was caused by the question of whether Balaam's ass spoke or whether Balaam just said his ass spoke. There is more, wonderfully much more, in this joyful journey into the mind and memory of John Gould: how giving a child a calf to raise provides "top-notch instruction in agronomy, economics, subsistence, and merchandising," as well as milk in the shoes; how lobstermen can communicate without uttering a word; or his comment on women's yearning for equality: "If lovely woman stoops for the folly of equalizing herself with man, God's great mistake, she deserves what she gets." John Gould, as everyone knows, lives in Friendship, Maine. He is the author of twenty books, most recently his first novel, No Other Place. A Maine writer, he is a national treasure.

How to Camp Out is a classic camping guide by John M. Gould. Mr Gould states: "In these few pages I have tried to prepare something about camping and walking, such as I should have enjoyed reading when I was a boy; and, with this thought in my mind, I some years ago began to collect the subject-matter for a book of this kind, by jotting down all questions about camping that my young friends asked me. I have also taken pains, when I have been off on a walk, or have been camping, to notice the parties of campers and trampers that I have chanced to meet, and have made a note of their failures or success. The experiences of the pleasant days when, in my teens, I climbed the mountains of Oxford County, or sailed through Casco Bay, have added largely to the stock of notes; and finally the diaries of "the war," and the recollections of "the field," have contributed generously; so that, with quotations, and some help from other sources, a sizable volume is ready."