When I first saw the title of this book I was a bit taken aback. In all honesty I expected commentary on how the white man is out to get up and coming blacks. I was pleasantly surprised when I began reading it. This book is an excellent source of information for people of all races. The advice given in the book is truley effective in the business world. I would reccomend this to anyone.

This book is worth the investment. If you are interested in being an entreprenuer or even succeeding in your career, I highly recommend this book.

If you're thinking about starting a business you must first think "success!" Since reading this book, I've learned the real meaning of success(not to mention starting my own business). This is definitely the BLACK BUSINESS BIBLE.

I have been aware of this book with its' familiar title since childhood but I only recently read it. I feared it would be a dull dry-as-dirt retelling of war stories of forgotten dead men. I was pleasantly surprised. The book is not at all dull but
presents Graves war experience in an exciting fast pased way. I had to skim the first part about his childhood. Every biography has a dull childhood section dealing with the subject's juvenile trails and tribulations and conflicts with family members. I find these universally uninteresting.

Graves was 17 when the war started and volunteered for officer candidate school within days. He became a lieutenant in the Royal Welch Guards and eventually was promoted to captain in charge of his own company of infantry by age 21. Unlike
our present system where college is mandatory prerequisite for a young man seeking to become an officer, social standing determined that Graves would become an officer rather than an enlisted man.

Graves participates in several trench warfare battles. Trench warfare as Graves describes is a monotonous and dirty business. Rats are everywhere. Groundwater seeps relentlessly into living and fighting spaces. The men live in warrens of chambers cut into ground branching away from the main trenches. To break up
the monotony and to show that he's not a coward, Graves often volunteers for scout duty. He sneaks into no mans land at night to assess the enemy. On occasion the senior officers order suicidal attacks in which every man of the company must go over the top and charge fortified machine gun positions. Graves
tells of one attack in which his company was ordered to take part. Three companies go before his and each is destroyed with 100% casualties wounded or killed. Graves and his men are crouching poised at the top step of their trench waiting for their turn to attack when the attack is suddenly called off. In a later attack Graves is wounded by shrapnel and left for dead for over 24 hours before receiving medical attention. He recovers fully from these wounds but is assigned to training duty after his recovery.

Later parts of the book deal with Graves' first marriage, his education at Oxford, a failed attempt at shopkeeping and a post war teaching position in Cairo. I found these of less interest than the war scenes. Graves lived to age 90 and went on the write the immensely entertaining I, Claudius and over a hundred other books.

A sad commentary on our society that only the audio versions of this book are available. With the increase of interest in the First World War recently it is to this book that many people should turn for a gripping, factual account of life before, during and after the Great War. Mr Graves documents the pastoral quiet of England in the early part of the twentieth century and abruptly descends to recounting, in cold detail, the dreadful slaughter of the trenches. Through some of the most famous battles in history he survives, physically more or less intact but from the dry words; modest, English, reserved, we glimpse the true weight of the burden that such memories impose on their carriers and understand better the terrible toll that the War levied on all the nations of Europe.

Along with Sigfried Sassoon's "Memoirs of an Infantry Soldier" and Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front", Graves' personal account of poetic inspiration in a background of horror is World War I's best first-hand chronicle ever compiled. The realism and power behind this book are electrical. Graves' coolness in the trenches while composing sonnets and seeking a blissful state of mind is almost disturbing when contrasting it with the demonic state of destruction and death. His unnerving pace and tranquil descriptions seem to underline an innocence lost in years past.

Greek Gods And Heroes consists of many, fine detailed stories which are very easy and fun to read. Robert Graves tells some of the best tales in such a fun way and yet you are still learning about the Greek myths. I think Robert Graves is a fine author!

I was looking for a book that had a collection on certain Greek myths one day and I happened to stumble upon this book. Robert Graves here put together a collection of Greek myths in his own retelling and this book makes for a fun read. In addition to the fun that this book brings there is also a lot of basic information on Greek mythology to be learned, such as the Olympian Gods and monsters of the ancient myths. Whether the book is enjoyed slowly by reading one story and reading another at a later time or gobbling it up all together you will still get a lot of fun and information out of it.

A lot of the basic stories that have come out of Greek mythology are retold here in a simple and easy to read format. Stories such as Heracles' (Hercules), the birth of the God Hermes, Perseus', and many more can be found here. This book combines the politics, mystery, and magic of the ancient Greek world. Of the twenty seven stories that are told in this short little book my favorite is definitely the story of Heracles. I enjoyed reading about how he was able to perform the feats that were given to him to gain his freedom as his story shows how in the end you can always manage to do something that you set out to do.

While reading this book you will notice how the huge cast of characters interact with one another. Many are against each other, many are involved in a love affair, and others team up with each other to defeat other characters. It is interesting how our world today mirrors the mythological world of the ancient Greeks. A lot of people today do the same things that were done by the characters in the stories of the book.

Robert Graves' knowledge of the Greek myths is absolutely astounding. It is obvious upon the reading of this book how much research, time and effort went not only into writing this book, but also into gaining the basic facts which make the stories. In the introduction Graves writes how many things that are in today's world were derived from the ancient Greeks, like astronomy, literature, and medicine. When you read the book keep an eye out for the things of the Greeks that we use today.

I will be reading many of the stories in this book that I have enjoyed again and again in the future. This is a great introduction to the basics of Greek mythology and are great stories for bedtime.

Happy Reading!

My son (11) loves these stories.

The main Greek myths are here, told briefly and unsentimentally in crisp English. Most of the tales are 2-3 pages in length.

If you are able to put this book down, you are not a lover of Greek myth or a cracking good story. Robert Graves has woven together myth, humor and storytelling mastery to give us one of his all time best reads.

When i was in Cuba around the year 1982, i read this book in the Spanish language(i didn't know English at that time); as part of a course of preparation for my Law carrer, i still remember vividly the passages of this unforgetable vogage. It was the content, not the material of the book what impressed me. In my opinion if i read it now i will find it more interesting. In other words, if we take serious all this adventures our values will be the first things in every time in our lives.

If you like Greek myth, adventure and the classics, you can't fail to love this book. Graves, a renowned poet and classicist (and rather eccentric iconoclast) here retells the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, bringing these rather rambunctious fellows to life in a manner which is surprising, yet wholly consistent with the original material. Putting his own gloss on the mythic times celebrated afterwards in classical Greece and Rome, Graves posits a culture of ancient origin in the Mediteranean, totemic and cult-like, onto which the pantheon of the sky gods of the invading Greek tribes was subsequently grafted. To Graves, the myths handed down to the classical writers (and which they preserved and elaborated on and then handed on to us) reflected the clash of these two religious views. The mythic creatures we came to know as centaurs, nymphs, etc., would have been people not unlike ourselves, but affiliated with one or another of the ancient cults (rooted in belief in the divinity of the ancient "triple goddess"). Like primitive tribesmen in many societies, these folk built their lives around their ritualistic practices and fetishes. The centaurs are called such, for instance, because they lived in fraternal clans in semi-primitive conditions revering the centaur totem and mating with this or that college of nymphs, as the need arises and in accordance with the ritualistic requirements of the times. The institution of marriage (considered an affront to the "triple goddess") is brought in by the sky peoples from the north -- those who would later bcome the Greeks known to classical antiquity, after these had supplanted and absorbed the older peoples they found in the territory they conquered. So this tale is set in the time when the two peoples were first encountering one another and is presented as a conflict which grew out of the tension between the differing religious views and backgrounds. In this context, the story tracks Jason as he raises a crew to reclaim a fleece trimmed with gold which was sacred to the new god Zeus, but which had apparently been spirited away by adherents of the triple goddess. Jason, rather unprepossessing as a hero though a remarkably handsome fellow, pulls into his orbit many of the great heroes and most accomplished adventurers of his day, including the mighty Hercules -- a rather likeable, if brutish, lout who gets by on his prodigious strength and amazing good luck. But Hercules doesn't make it through the entire voyage (his attention span is not overly long). He becomes sidetracked in a search for Hylas, his adopted son (taken after he killed the boy's parents), when Hylas makes his getaway. (Hercules seems to have had a more than fatherly interest in the boy, which doesn't sit well with Hylas when he discovers the beauteous possibilities to be had in a local college of nymphs.) But the Argonauts press on, without Hercules (in fact they have conspired to abandon him in order to save themselves from his clumsy and dangerous excesses), and navigate the Black Sea to the land of Colchis where the fleece is kept. There they engage in all the appropriate deceptions in order to steal the prize from under the unwitting eyes of the Colchians (aided by the Colchian king's daughter Medea who is quite smitten with the handsome, if inconstant, Jason). The rest of the tale recounts their escape and the killings they must involve themselves in to make good their theft and the ritualized atonements they must make thereafter. Graves manages to convey a sense of the magical and mysterious without resort to the clumsy mythological creatures of ancient Greek tale, by relying on the mystic elements of the ancient religions his characters practiced (whether of the old or new variety). No one gets turned into a beast except metaphorically, and perhaps in spirit, and the biggest monster seems to be an overlarge Python which the Colchians kept to guard their purloined fleece -- or perhaps it is Hercules himself. Even the Hellenes are presented in a fetchingly realistic manner when we see these blonde, blue-eyed men painting their bodies and doing a sort of war dancing on the beach, before they embark on the first leg of their journey, or when we watch them posturing and posing like so many primitives in the flush of battle. Women get treated rather well in this context since the older society is matriarchal in nature and dominated by various powerful priestesses and nymphs. The tale is driven as much by the interplay of the many fascinating characters (Orpheus the clever musician and adept of the triple goddess, Atalanta the virgin warrior and her various suitors, on board the Argo and off) as by the adventure of the quest itself. And the end takes the surviving players through to their respective fates, always consistent with the characters they have shown themselves in the course of their adventures to be. It may seem overly long to the contemporary reader in some parts and somewhat episodic, but it takes us back to a time which may really have been and gives us a slant on things which we don't ordinarily get from a straight reading of the classics. -- Stuart W. Mirsky (mirsky@ix.netcom.com

This encyclopedic and handsomely-illustrated book has been an indispensible reference for me for sixteen years. Its only major shortcoming is that it does not, perforce, cover the major living religions, or covers them in only a cursory way.

Unfortunately, the binding of the perfect-bound paperback edition is not strong, and I cannot recommend it in a book that will receive continual use like 'Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology'. The cover came off mine in under a year.

This book has been on my "must recommend" list for years. While any encyclopedia must limit the information it includes, the LaRousse Encyclopedia of Mythology is an extremely good overview of mythologies from many cultures. The late Robert Graves, who edited this version, was also the author of "The White Goddess", a study in poetic myth, as well as the editor of a two-colume set on the Greek Myths.

If you are interested in mythology in general, and don't know where to start, look no further. This book details stuff a lot of mythology information from the Greeks, Persians to the Indians. This book relates all the mythologies, bringing about why a particular tale came about, what happened in that tale, and what was its consequence in the tale and to the people in the real world.....A MUST BUY even if you are remotely interested in Mythology

I have just finished reading Michael Yergin's new novel Kill Talk- a true story about the Mafia's plans to take over the federal prison system and the kidnapping amd murder of a beautiful young Chicago woman who is in the mob. A great read-could not put it down. I anxiously await the movie. Someone told be about Yergin's book on wealth building-I read it and found it very well written and it showed the diversity of one of Chicago's most talented writers(in my humle opinion)

I have read two of Michael Yergin's previous books on other subjects and some of his screenplays. Similiar to his cousin Danny Yergin (who has won two Pulitzer's;) Michael has a keen wit and great sense of humor.

I had always wanted to understand the rare coin business as more than just a hobby. This book gave me a great start and valuable insight into the world of numismatics

This is truly a wonderful book. I notice it is being reprinted in Spanish, but not in English. Publishers take note and bring this charming book back!

Wish this book would be reprinted! I can't believe it's no longer available. Anything with illustrations by Maurice Sendak is great. It is suspenseful, with sly humor. I read it to many classrooms and kids loved it. Bring it back.

I had this as a child and I have looked for years to find a copy to give my niece and nephews. I know they are big readers and I wanted them to have the same experience I had with this book. It is one of the fondest memories of my childhood and I will not give up the hope of finding a copy.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION

It's hard to review a book when one feels that she could have written it herself and worse yet when in fact that book has been published already. In some ways it's reassuring to read the same thoughts, opinions, even the same literary references and mythological symbols. In other ways it is almost eerie to share with it a similar structure of titled chapters which can be read independently. It all started with the cover of Lucia Graves' A Woman Unknown. Voices from a Spanish Life (Washington D. C.: Counterpoint, 2000) where I saw the familiar picture of Mercedes Formica, a writer I interviewed some years ago, but more about her later.
Lucia Graves is the daughter of Robert Graves, the English poet who lived in Majorca with his Spanish wife and children for several years. Her book is labeled as her autobiography, but it's more like a history of Spain during the almost forty years of Franco's Dictatorship and the ensuing some twenty years of Democracy. Her role is more that of a well-versed witness, a woman who has lived among three different cultures: the English of her birth, the Spanish of her adopted country and the Catalan into which she married. Hers is a well documented account of everyday life, political repression, historical events and a study of the richness of languages.
The author moved to Majorca, where a version of Catalan is spoken, when she was three years old. Despite her father's prominence, she lived a rather modest life on the island before it became a popular tourist destination. A few years of her childhood were spent in Palma, the island's capital, where she studied in a repressive nun school like any other Spanish girl, until she was almost convinced to be baptized in the Catholic Church ( to keep her from "going to hell"), at which time her parents had her first tutored at home and then send to England to receive a "proper" education.
At Oxford, although she missed Spain terribly, she became familiar with the language of her birth, her own father's work and - interestingly enough- Spanish literature which she could then study uncensored. It was her appreciation of the complexity of languages and in particular her translation class, that gave her the tools to become the accomplished translator she is now. Her reflections on language are in themselves worth the reading of A Woman Unknown. Her dilemma should be familiar to anyone fluent in more than one language: "I began to see that being trilingual meant I had never been able to focus fully on any one of my languages, that each one covered only particular areas of experience, and as result I could not express myself fully in any of them" (115).
Lucia Graves' book is full of expressions in Catalan which she carefully explains and translates into English. In fact, if anything, her careful attention to detail is superfluous to the initiated reader of Spanish culture. Her knowledge of the subtleties of the Spanish and Catalan character is commendable as is the varied tidbits of information about popular customs. Her appraisal of the repressive years of Franco's regime is equally on target as is her appreciation - only now becoming official in Spain- of the liberal Republican government.
However, for all her political openness, Lucia Graves is very coy about much of her personal information. For instance, she mentions in passing the sudden death of her half-sister Jenny (149), but doesn't bother to explain it, or we know little more than her oldest daughter's name and not even that of her other two daughters. Her Spanish mother, despite the fact that her illness opens and closes the book, remains a mystery as well. The reader is left wondering what led to her divorce from her Catalan husband and even to whom is she married now since she alludes to a second marriage, while she analyzes in depth the effects of the new Spanish divorce law of 1981. It could be argued that this lack of detail is a good thing since the reader's curiosity is peaked due to her talent as a writer and her, indeed, fascinating life.
The title, "A Woman Unknown" refers to the legal terminology given a woman in divorce proceedings. In fact Lucia Graves gives special attention to the situation of Spanish women: from the liberties of the Second Republic before Franco to the repression of the years after the Civil War, up to the new freedom we are presently enjoying. Her representation of postwar courtship rituals is as poignant as that of Carmen Martín Gaite's, one of the best Spanish writers who have written on the same topic. Her sympathetic portrait of Margarida de Prades, in the chapter titled "The Queen Who Never Was," a fifteen century Catalan noblewoman, for example, makes for captivating reading.
Lucia Graves is equally sympathetic in her depiction of the Sephardic Jews who inhabited Majorca and Catalonia. Their exile, in many ways, parallels her own quest for a homeland. But she is overly simplistic when she states that Franco was anti-Semitic. Despite all his other abuses, Franco saved over thirty thousand Ukranian Jews as it is documented in Chaim Lipschitz's book, Franco, Spain, the Jews, and the Holacaust (KTVA Publishing House, 1984). In fact Franco's own mother was of Jewish descent; her maiden name, Bahamonde, being typically Jewish.
There is no mention in the text of Mercedes Formica, the writer who graces the book's cover. This is a surprising choice given her right wing ideology - she was a sympathizer of the Falangist leader, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. My guess is that it was chosen by the editor in an otherwise beautiful, careful edition. These minor issues aside, Lucia Graves' book is a well written, compelling history of contemporary Spain from the point of view of a not so foreign woman, even when her own story is still not completely told.
CONCHA ALBORG

Concha Alborg is a Spanish writer who lives in Philadelphia and teaches Spanish literature at Saint Joseph's University. She has recently published Beyond Jet-Lag (New Jersey: Ediciones Nuevo Espacio, 2000), her second work of fiction, about the immigrant experience. Beyond Jet-Lag is available on Amazon.com ...

This is a fascinating perspective from the tri-lingual-daughter of a well-known poet. Lucia is caught between two identities-Britain and Spain. She tells tales of growing up-island style-off of the coast of Spain-with her Roman Catholic upbringings. All this set after the Spanish civil war where people's identities marred, hopes dashed, and properties confiscated under the Fascist Franco regime (1939-1975) which was characterized by the tight grip of church and state. Her viewpoints on women rights, religious rights, the Catalan identity and the translation profession are particularly illuminating.

I loved this book and, as a writer, I found it very inspiring! Graves writes beautifully of growing up on Majorca and her descriptions of the place and the people there, and other parts of Catalonia, are very evocative. The book caught my eye because I am studying Spanish and this book gave me a great feel for life in Spain, particularly under Franco but also, as described to her by people she knew, during the Spanish Civil War. It also offers interesting thoughts on language and identity, because she grew up speaking English at home, Majorcan/Catalan with neighbors (at least until Franco tried to crush the language), and Castilian Spanish at school. It's no wonder she became a translator.

By the way, if you're interested in Robert Graves (I didn't know anything about him - I guess I missed the whole PBS "I Claudius" series), you won't find out all that much about him here - this is Lucia's story. At least he passed on to his daughter his talent for writing.

I consider myself a connosieur of the classics, so when I heard of an ancient novel concerned with sex, illicit sex, and illicit donkey sex, I decided to take a closer look.

And I'm glad that I did. At the back end of the classical Western literary tradition of silliness, which includes such hallowed humorists as Chaucer, Bocaccio, Rabelais, Cervantes, and, in its divine form, Shakespeare, we find the one tale that may have excited them all--Lucius Apuleius's Golden Ass.

The Golden Ass is filled with adventure, suspense, humor, and nonsense. I had a grin on my face most of the way through, and I got the feeling that the author did too. Tip o' the hat to Robert Graves for delivering an authentic translation that brings us Apuleius in his bawdy best.

The only thing I found occasionally irritating was that, like Cervantes, Apuleius has a tendency to digress. Big time. He inserts the entire myth of Cupid and Psyche right into the middle of the narrative, for example. Does this add to the mythological message of the whole? Probably, but it subtracts from the fantastic flow of the story. My urgent plea to Apuleius, were he alive today, would be, "Stick to the ass!"

There are a number of reasons that traditionally bring people to this book: to study Classical Rome, classic literature, mythology, psychology... maybe you're curious about the intimate lives of donkeys. Whatever has brought you to this novel, now that you're going to read it, perhaps the best thing to do is to take the advice of the author himself, who says, "Read on and enjoy yourself!"

I thought only cats were supposed to have nine lives, but this donkey has at least that many. This book is great fun, I couldn't put it down for too long, and it is incredible that something written so long ago (18 centuries?) can be so accessible, captivating, and hilarious to a modern reader. The events in The Golden Ass resemble the ribald, bawdy exuberance of the Decameron, and no doubt Boccaccio was somewhat inspired by the writings of Apuleius. According to the introduction, the adjective "golden" in the title implies "the ass par excellence" or "the best of all stories about an ass." The story follows the misadventures of Lucius, an enterprising young man who gets far too close to the world of magic, is transformed into a donkey and is constantly thwarted in his attempt to procure the antidote to his assness. It's human mind trapped in donkey bawdy! Totally imaginative, classically written, hilarious fun. As a writer, Apuleius was MILLENNIUMS ahead of his time! (Note: my review is based on the Robert Graves translation, rather than the William Adlington).

I read The Golden Ass for a Classic art course I took while at university I loved it! It is fun, entertaining and comical- not your typical dry Roman read. It is a great story and a great look into history.I highly recommend this tale to anyone who not wants to laugh but is interested in an important text from antiquity.

Wow, was I ever surprised as all heck when this novel ended up being one of the greatest I've ever read. Not having too much background on Roman history, my preliminary thought was that I would be turned off after reading the first fifty pages. However, that thought was soon contradicted, and I found myself staying up an extra half hour every night just to see the following events.

I, Claudius is, without a doubt, a masterpiece in historical fiction. Much like Lonesome Dove, it made me more open-minded towards different types of literature. It has its own intellecutal wit, superfluous yet absorbing description, and a great storyline. Graves does a superb job at expressing the bad people surrounding Claudius (Livia, Tiberius, Caligula) and the good (Postumus, Augustus, Germanicus). I'm sure this wasn't an easy novel for Graves to write and it's an example of extreme determination and research.

Those reasons can be accountable for it being considered one of the greatest American novels of all time. However, there are certain aspects about it that some overlook. Take the character of Claudius. Though the customs and culture of Ancient Rome are far different than that of late 90's America, the position of Claudius is not. He is an outcast. People look towards him with disgust and make fun of his disabilities. He is barely given any chances and does not exactly have the greatest family life. Yet in the end, he does prevail as Emperor, even though he does not want to be. Let a teenager with tolerance and time read this novel, and most likely they will see how Claudius can relate to many others nowadays. Claudius, I believe, is one of the most dignified and respectable characters in literature. In spite of the harsh criticism, he remains resolute and loyal.

I guess that's it. So I end with saying that this novel is a sure pleaser. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I still have yet to read CLAUDIUS THE GOD.

I, Claudius one of the most wonderfully written, inspired, and entertaining books that I have read. The basis for the book-Roman Politics-is a serious topic, but one which Graves is able to artfully weave into his story of mystery, betrayal, and triumph in an unobtrusive way. The depth and scope of Graves' research into his characters and settings is evident from the biography's first page and gives each chapter an historical texture that fools the reader into believing he or she is actually reading the words of an emperor two-thousand years dead-incredible.

For its history, its characters, its intelligence, its wit, and most notably, its story, I, Claudius is nothing less than incredible.

I, Claudius is definitely my favorite book of all time. I read this book last spring as a 12 year old and I understood everything perfectly! It is a clear concise book about Tiberius Claudius, Emperor of the Roman Empire.

This book is sure to capture anyone's interest. It is part thriller, part history. It keeps you on your toes and makes you ask for more.

You should not judge this book by its cover. The book and its cover may seem boring, just like Claudius himself, but you'll find out that there's more than one story behind him. I really believe you'll find his grandmother and uncle quite interesting, along with the well known Caligula to add to the twists and turns of the plot. Claudius is definitely the hero, even though he is crippled and a known studderer, he shines like no one else does and you'll feel sorry and happy for him as you read.

So if you are looking for a book to satisfy more than one urge in reading (hopefully history and mystery), then I, Claudius by Robert Graves is the book for you!

Happy Reading!