Druid Magazine

The acclaimed author of Brute recounts the life of the veteran U.S. Air Force pilot and innovative military strategist in this biography. John Boyd was arguably the greatest fighter pilot in American history. From the proving ground of the Korean War, he went on to win renown as the instructor who defeated—in less than forty seconds—every pilot who challenged him. But what made Boyd a man for the ages was what happened after he left the cockpit. A fighter on the ground as well as in the air, Boyd was relentless, brilliant, stubborn, and virtually always right. He managed to transform almost single-handedly the way military aircraft, particularly the F-15 and F-16, were designed. He then dedicated many lonely years to a radical theory of conflict that at the time was mostly ignored but now informs military activity around the globe and is acclaimed as the most influential thinking about conflict since Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Praise for Boyd “Boyd could not be more welcome. . . . It should be required reading for every American citizen.” —Washington Post Book World “This engrossing biography should definitely be on the bedside table of all our current military leadership.” —Andrew Cockburn, Los Angeles Times Book Review “A stunning biography . . . Coram traces how Boyd’s ideas percolated into key centers of civilian and military decision making and led to a swift and decisive victory in Operation Desert Storm, and how his maneuverist doctrine foretold the type of terrorist tactics used on September 11.” —Martin Edwin Andersen, Insight

A Second World War veteran and the son of a policmen, Edwin Alonzo Boyd seemed an unlikely condidate for the role of master criminal. But before his career as a bandit was ended in 1952, the glamorously handsome Boyd cut a swath through 11 Toronto-area banks, stealing thousands of dollars and igniting two manhunts of unprecedented scope. When he and his confederates escaped not once but twice from Toronto's Don Jail, the Boyd Gang created headlines across North America and became an enduring Canadian legend. Eventually recaptured and sentenced to life imprisonment, Edwin Alonzo Boyd was paroled in 1966. Since then he has lived under as assumed identity, but he willingly shared his memories with best selling author Brian Vallee, resulting in this gripping account of Boyd's dubious career. Numerous others--including Boyd's former wife and various police officers involved with the Boyd Gang--also spoke candidly to the author. Edwin Alonzo Boyd: The Story of the Notorious Boyd Gang sheds light on a unique fragment of our history, rich with details of Depression-era and postwar Canada and alive with the insights and memories of those who lived this true-life cops-and-robbers drama.

A comprehensive introduction to the tools, techniques and applications of convex optimization.

David Boyd's biography is the story of one man's dedicated struggle to protect and preserve Louisiana's fledgling state university from the cumulative effects of war, Reconstruction, political hostility, and parochial greed. Boyd fought hard to promote his vision of higher education among a largely antagonistic or apathetic citizenry. He died, bitter and disillusioned, in 1899, without realizing his dream. But his life was not wasted. Clearly those who governed the university in more prosperous days owned much of their success to the devotion and self-sacrifice of this heroic figure.

Exotic venues, sold-out concerts, and the companionship of the world’s most powerful people have given classical guitarist Liona Boyd a lifestyle that, like her music, is one in a million. Both of Liona Boyd’s personal, intimate memoirs are bundled together in this special 2-book collection. Includes: In My Own Key From down-and-out years in Paris, to her affair with Canada’s prime minister Pierre Trudeau, to stages around the world, Liona Boyd has made a lifestyle of crossing boundaries, both musically and romantically. Whether with classical greats or folk legends like Gordon Lightfoot, she has always made music — and lived her life — in her own key. No Remedy for Love A fascinating, personal story of the adventures, romance, and recovery of renowned classical guitarist Liona Boyd. After her divorce and departure from Beverly Hills, Boyd reinvented her career, became a singer-songwriter and the pen pal of Prince Philip, and turned a devastating diagnosis into a new chapter in her life and career.

Contemporary Nonlinear Optics discusses the different activities in the field of nonlinear optics. The book is comprised of 10 chapters. Chapter 1 presents a description of the field of nonlinear guided-wave optics. Chapter 2 surveys a new branch of nonlinear optics under the heading optical solitons. Chapter 3 reviews recent progress in the field of optical phase conjugation. Chapter 4 discusses ultrafast nonlinear optics, a field that is growing rapidly with the ability of generating and controlling femtosecond optical pulses. Chapter 5 examines a branch of nonlinear optics that may be termed nonlinear quantum optics. Chapter 6 reviews the new field of photorefractive adaptive neural networks. Chapter 7 presents a discussion of recent successes in the development of nonlinear optical media based on organic materials. Chapter 8 reviews the field of nonlinear optics in quantum confined structures. Chapter 9 reviews the field of nonlinear laser spectroscopy, with emphasis on advances made during the 1980s. Finally, Chapter 10 reviews the field of nonlinear optical dynamics by considering nonlinear optical systems that exhibit temporal, spatial, or spatio-temporal instabilities. This book is a valuable source for physicists and other scientists interested in optical systems and neural networks.