About the Author About the Author: "GOULD, CHARLES (1834-1893), geological surveyor, was born on 4 June 1834 in England, son of John and Elizabeth Gould. After graduating from the University of London (B.A., 1853), he won the Duke of Cornwall's exhibition at the Royal School of Mines in 1854 and a Board of Trade certificate with many first-class passes in 1856. He then travelled with his father in eastern North America early in 1857, worked with the Geological Survey of Great Britain and left for Hobart Town on 12 April 1859. His initial contract at £600 a year with travelling expenses was to make a geological survey and prepare a book on the geology of Tasmania. He also served as a coal commissioner from March 1862 to June 1867, as a gold commissioner of the western district in 1862 and a magistrate of the territory..An impression of incompleteness is conveyed by his reports and papers; something more or better soon was a common promise and the colonial secretary did not always get the reports when he wanted them. Another area of continuing tension was that of the function of the Survey: Gould wanted a regional geological survey and the secretary a mineral prospecting unit, preferably one for gold; but the final compromise was rather closer to Gould's stand. Combined with these difficulties, the depressed finances of the colony in 1868-74 probably led to the lapse of Gould's contract in August 1869. Gould then seems to have acted as a geological consultant and land surveyor in Tasmania, the Bass Strait islands and New South Wales where he was licensed as a surveyor on 29 January 1873. While in Tasmania he was actively interested in its Royal Society and the fauna and flora. He left Tasmania late in 1873 and seems to have returned to London where he stayed until at least June 1874. From 1880 he travelled in Burma, Singapore, Siam, Hong Kong, China, Korea and Japan, apparently advising on mining properties. He also collected ornithological specimens and material for his Mythical Monsters (London, 1886), a rather credulous book, the culmination of an interest extending at least as far back as his Tasmanian days. He returned to Europe early in 1889 but soon sailed to Buenos Aires. He travelled in South America until he died, probably unmarried, in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 15 April 1893." (Quote from adb.online.anu.edu.au) Read more
D**E
Great information on a interesting subject
I bought this for my grandson who is very interested in the subject. He really loves it and at 11 that says a lot for the book.
Trustpilot
4 days ago
3 weeks ago
