Floyd Books

Sixteen essays make a contribution to "cyborg anthropology" and "cyborg feminism." Volume considers human reproduction through the lens of an interrogation of the cyborg metaphor, its power, pleasure, promise, and threat. Section one essays discuss medico-technological interventions in conception and contraception including production of "technosemen." Section two includes essays by Emily Martin, Rayna Rapp and others, examining gestation and the use of medical imaging (ultrasound) and screening (amniocentesis) technologies to produce "normal" and "healthy" fetuses. Section three essays consider technobirth, focusing on the medical monitoring and management of the mother's body. Section four considers childrearing in a digital culture, including essay by Sherry Turkle on cyborg babies in a culture of "simulation." Exceptional introduction by David-Floyd and Dumit provides historical/theoretical overview of cyborg metaphor as quintessential postmodern myth and tool.

John Floyd's writing tends to make me want to read more. He always keeps the stories moving and the characters believable. Both Parts I and II are quick and easy to enjoy...

A great teaching or learning manual for PageMaker! I used this text teaching DTP and PM at a community college. It is well illustrated and has step-by-step instructions. Each lesson has labs that, if completed, will make you proficient in PM. The only drawback to the book is the changes to PM6.5. While the supplement covers the changes, some of the excercises cannot be completed as directed because they do not account for the changes. (for instance, the grid manager in PM6.5 is set up differently). PM6.5 Plus (newest release) has some additional features (such as a tool bar) that may require an additional supplement but can be figured out easily enough until it's available. Overall, a good, comprehensive book for beginners or intermediates.

Many books exist to critique orthodox economic theory. But few are prepared by senior professors of economics. Floyd McFarland is not merely a professor of economics; he also brings to bear an impressive knowledge of heuristics, epistemology, and philosophy. Armed with this knowledge, he examines the dilemmas and recurring questions that economics has so often faced without success.

He begins by examining the contradictions and philosophical shortcomings of economics: like all social sciences, economic propositions are not rigorous enough for logical positivism, but economics--in a vain effort to impersonate physics--uses the approach of counterintuitive propositions, incapable of testing, that culminate in a complex structure of metaphysical speculation. The effort of classical theory to establish a unique equilibrium position based on endowments, technology, and preferences led to the embrace of "utility functions," supposedly meaningful functions of consumer desires. Yet there is no way of testing this against the customer's own preferences for another bundle of goods, since (a) the customer's own preferences might have changed over time, or else (b) the customer's satiation with either good might interfere with a subsequent "measurement" during a second trial of her preferences. Efforts to prove this is true are essentially tautological, i.e., guaranteed to be true regardless of what might ever be observed (even if a reliable test were available). Even the obvious notion of a demand and supply equilibrium is inherently untestable.* Changes in quantity supplied in response to a particular price (like crude oil in reaction to daily price fluctuations) may reflect expected future movements in price, or it might reflect responses to anticipated changes in price--no matter what observed reality is, the underlying theory is never wrong.

McFarland examines several responses to this. He devotes particular attention to Thorstein Veblen, whose writings on "conspicuous consumption" and "pecuniary emulation" argued that economic behavior is inherently determined by collective motivations such as social standing or ritual propriety. The assumptions of maximum utilization of available capital and labor, likewise, required an additional assumption that productive institutions were motivated by economic rationality. The obvious absurdity of this claim was the foundation of the "institutionalist" school of economic. Unfortunately, Veblen's theories did not lend themselves to prescription, but, rather, to fatalism about the ability of societies to cope with technology. Another major challenger to the classical paradigm was the once-canonical John M. Keynes, who formalized the concepts of fiscal policy (and developed his own theory of monetary policy). The attempts of economic to convert this into a technology of command management of the economy (a la Samuelson) was the undoing of Keynes, who had avoided using formal curves or formulae: the *General Theory* includes neither.

A final critique of orthodox economic thought whom McFarland examines, albeit too briefly, is Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. Georgescu-Roegen argues, with McFarland, that classical economic theory wrongly attempts to equate the behavior of the economy to elastic physical processes, like the collision of billiard balls. This is a plaint never far from the author's mind. Georgescu-Roegen's alternative is to liken economic phenomena to a thermodynamic process in which the material order of the natural world is rendered into disorder by industrial processes with ever greater speed. The fact that "productivity" is an inherently destructive and physically constrained process is the ultimate oversight of prevailing economic thought; and while Georgescu-Roegen alludes to the impossibility of a steady state in economics over very long time horizons, McFarland leads back to contemporary "entropy" in the form of profound social degradation.

The chief merit of this book is the introduction of the philosophical dilemmas of economic thought, and the failure of the neoclassical school to overcome its inherent limitations--and pointlessness. Today, economics is again in ferment, its repudation gravely tarnished, and its fundamental premises in flux.

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* Since McFarland wrote this book in 1991, several prominent researchers in "experimental economics" have become prominent, including 2002 Nobel laureate Vernon Smith. "Why labour market experiments?" by Armin Falk & Ernst Fehr is a short paper [online] summarizing efforts and objections to experimental research in economics.

** The pretensions of economics to a monopoly on valid policy making judgment are exemplified by the published articles by Nobel laureates Gary Becker and Edward Prescott. Even experts in other fields like education or corrections reform are accused of being unable to make valid prescriptions because they don't understand economics! This is known as economic imperialism.

In "An Editor for Oregon," Floyd McKay provides a thoroughly-researched, eminently readable account of Sprague's life and times. McKay, a journalism professor at Western Washington University, brings unquestioned qualifications to this work. Before entering the academic world, he spent many years as a working journalist, both in broadcast and print. His first job was on the Oregon Statesman, working under Sprague, its owner and publisher. But though his admiration for his subject is clear, it's also a straightforward and honest account.

McKay traces Sprague's birth and youth in Kansas, his migration to Washington state and the influence the Progressive movement had on shaping his political outlook, his entry into the newspaper business, and his arrival in Oregon in 1925. A few years later he acquired the Statesman, a newspaper from the state's pioneer era that had fallen on difficult times. Sprague grew quickly in stature and influence, yet his nomination and election to the governorship over incumbent Charles Martin in 1938, only 13 years after he had come to the state, was something of a surprise.

His single term as governor was dominated by the state's response to the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, the same voters who had embraced Sprague only four years earlier turned their backs on him, ousting him in the Republican primary. Although a competent governor, Sprague's time in office turned out to be only a prelude to his greatest service to the state. For the next 25 years, with his front page column "It Seems To Me" and on the Statesman's editorial page, Sprague evolved into the most widely-read and respected opinion-maker in the state. Yet his active public service was not at an end; he served for a time as an alternate delegate to the United Nations.

"An Editor for Oregon" provides not only a compressive look at Sprague's life and career, but a history of the state's political evolution from the Depression through the sixties. It's a first-rate work.--William C. Hall

What a terrific introduction to electronics! The author explains electricity, the relevant formulae, the basic physics of electricity, electromagnetism and a lot more. The text requires no more than algebra and right angle trigonometry. I find the text clear, engaging, and quite understandable even without an instructor to help me.

Each chapter begins with an outline of what is going to be discussed, chapter objectives, key terms, application assignment, web materials, and an introduction. The text uses color very well, is richly illustrated, and is mindful of the student learning process. I like the way the author introduces a point, poses a problem that he then solves, and then asks you a similar problem to work on your own (with the answer provided at the end of the chapter). At the end of each chapter there is a bullet point summary, key terms with definitions, a self-test to check your understanding, and a section by section set of basic problems.

The text has 21 chapters divided into three parts. Part 1 discusses DC circuits (quantities & units, voltage - current & resistance, Ohm's Law - Energy & Power, Series Circuits, Parallel Circuits, Series Parallel Circuits, Magnetism & Electromagnetism). Part 2 discusses AC Circuits (Introduction to Alternating Current & Voltage, Capacitors, RC Circuits, Inductors, RL Circuits, RCLS Circuits & Resonance, Transformers, Time Response & Reactive Circuits). Part 3 discusses Devices (Diodes & Applications, Transistors & Applications, the Operational Amplifier, Basic Op-Amp Circuits, Special Purpose Op-Amp Circuits, Measurement - Conversion & Control).

There are also 5 appendices having a table of standard values, capacitor color coding & marking, Norton's Theorem & Millman's Theorem, Devices Data Sheets, Field-Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAAs). A glossary, index and answers to odd number questions are provided as well.

This text is, of course, usable in college or high school introductory courses to electronics, but it is also usable by interested general readers who want to build or fill in their understanding of the basic principles and applications of electronics.

Recommended!

Reviewed by Craig Matteson - Ann Arbor, MI

This book is absolutely essential if you think Floyd were at their peak during their 1966-1971 period. It gives some really good background information on things that happened during that period and goes into a lengthy analysis of Floyd's "The Man & The Journey", which is an essential, if little known piece of Floyd history. The book also opens with a note from the authors that perfectly describes why they limited the book to the 66-71 period.

This book is really geared towards the people that collect live Floyd recordings, as it gives times and setlists for known recordings. In this regard, it is the best Floyd book I've seen. However, this really should be a companion piece to the monster "Pink Floyd: In The Flesh" by Glenn Povey and Ian Russell. The latter cannot be beat for having the most complete listings of setlists for Floyd, but it offers no commentary on these performances, nor does it give the reader any indication if recordings of a given show exist or length of tracks or recordings. Embryo does, but it does not usually give setlists for shows with no known recordings. As a result, you need both books to have a complete picture. That said, both books are slightly old and missing newly surfaced information. Though I think "In The Flesh" is being given an overhaul, I don't think there are any plans to update Embryo.

Thought-provoking and insightful, gives you a real feel to the inside world of architecture and the lives of these talented Architects.

After personally working with Dr Floyd on an acute chronic laminitis case, I am SO impressed with her expertise and experience. As the farrier, I was privileged to participate in assisting with a surgery that became a terrific success. I learned a great deal from Dr. Floyd. I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

The Evening Light is a collection of full-length poems examining the passion to survive and thrive in a world of forces seeking to silence our hopes, dreams, aspirations, and even our lives. Floyd Skloot masterfully employs poetry to show that through true insight it is entirely possible to make our way through even the deepest darkness and out into the light. Bittersweet Nightshade: It has been months since I could walk this far./At noon the fence row thick with bittersweet/nightshade flashes with summer sun. there are/no clouds, no fleeing deers, no swirls of breeze,/nothing I remember from the last time/I was here. Now I prop my cane against/a post, lying back where the long stems climb/and scramble over everything that rests//in their way. I love to see these blue stars./Their five points bend back to reveal a blunt/golden cone nestled in the heart of the leaf/where in this light long shadows run like tears./The wide yellow berries starting to run/toward red are the exact color of grief.