There Goes Maine!

After writing nearly two dozen books about his native state, Gould still finds material to beguile readers: nuggets of history omitted by orthodox historians, local lore, forgotten but formidable characters. He explains why Maine had eight governors in 1880, and how Ephriam Wylie and his dog saved the town of Thomaston from the British in 1814. He introduces the Stanley twins, inventors who sold their photographic dryplate to Eastman Kodak, then later produced the Stanley Steamer. Another Mainer, Alvin Lombard, designed a steam log-hauler, a machine that was the granddaddy of the tractor and tank. Gould spins yarns of early explorers, colonists and Indians--and if readers are not entirely convinced that the history of North America began in Maine, they nevertheless will be vastly entertained by the author's surmises. (Aug.)