The
Media's Tribute to the Unabomber (1995) -- a personal essay on the response
of the American media to the Unabomber's threats
The Aesthetics of Piet Mondrian (New York: MSS Educational Publishing, 1972) -- an examination of the theories behind the paintings of this seminal artist
Stereo Views of the Golden Era in San Francisco (Lafayette, CA: Stereoptic Perspectives, 1976) -- a stereoscopic photographs from 19th-century San Francisco, with commentary on each image
Old Tales of San Francisco (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1977; second edition, revised, 1987) -- an anthology , with prefaces and notes, of San Francisco literature from 1776-1906
Through the Communication Barrier (New York: Harper and Row, 1979) -- an edited collection of essays on language and thought by S.I. Hayakawa
Stereo Views (San Francisco: Troubadour Press, 1979; reprinted by Price/Stern/Sloan, 1983) -- a historical survey, with anaglyphic reproductions of stereoscopic photography and art
The Biography of San Francisco State University (pdf, 53 MB) (San Francisco: Lexikos Press, 1986) -- a history of the university
The Fantastic Fair (pdf, 61 MB) (Minneapolis: Pogo Press, 1994) -- A history of the first international exposition staged in San Franciso, 1894
ESSAYS
"Therapy for a Dying Craft: A Reconstruction of Literary Criticism," Pequod, summer, 1975 -- a rejection of "New Criticism," and a program for an integrative approach to literature
"The Vision of Hyperspace," Stereo World, Nov.-Dec., 1975 -- a discussion of the perceptual qualities of hyperstereoscopy (a branch of three-dimensional photography)
"The Faustian Infinite: Western Mathematics and the Humanities of Endless Space," Western Humanities Review, autumn, 1975 -- an attempt to find a common vision of the world in Western mathematics, painting, and music; winner of the Fels Award for Non-Fiction in 1976
"The Relative Absolute," California Humanities Association Bulletin, fall, 1976 -- a discussion of the replacment of laws by theories in art and science
"Oswald Spengler and the Morphology of Cultures," Humanities, 1979 -- presentation and analysis of Spengler's most innovative ideas
"The Doré Vase," World's Fair, Volume III, No. 2, 1983 -- the history and aesthetics of Gustave Dore's major work of sculpture, now in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor; reprinted as a monograph for the San Francisco Museums
"The Towers of San Francisco," World's Fair, summer, 1984 -- an assessment of the Bonet Electric Tower (Midwinter Exposition, 1894), the Tower of Jewels (Panama Pacific Exposition, 1915), and the Tower of the Sun (Treasure Island Fair, 1939)
"New Visions of Space-Time," Magazine, fall, 1984 -- a comparison of the languages of contemporary physics, painting, and film.
"The Electronic Humanities," Humanities, spring, 1985 -- a discussion of the implication of computers for the theory and practice of the humanities
"The Signature Buildings of San Francisco," San Francisco Bay Architect's Review, spring, 1985 -- a humanist's view of the five skyline-defining buildings in the city's history
"Pictures from Plato's Cave," The New Mexico Humanities Review, fall, 1985 -- a comparison of the intrinsic capabilities of painting and photography
"The Fantastic Fair," World's Fair, winter, 1985 -- a humanistic study of San Francisco's first international exhibition
"Comparing Frontiers: A Scout Report," in Magazine, spring, 1988
"Life Juggling," in Juggler's World, Winter 1990-91 Vol. 42, number 4) Click here for text
"On the Symbolism of Juggling: The Moral and Aesthetic Implications of the Mastery of Falling Objects," in Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 25, Number 3 (Winter, 1991) Click here for text
"The Morality of Computer Gaming: Messages Explicit and Implicit," in Humanities, 1991-1992
"Have We Been Here Before? Hippie and Raver Cultures of the 60's and 90s" in Assemblage 1.1 (an electronic journal published on the Internet), November, 1992 Click here for the text
The
Media's Tribute to the Unabomber (1995) -- a personal essay on the response
of the American media to the Unabomber's threats
Overlinked -- An essay on the perils of putting in links to other sides -- for the much-reduced published version, see the "Idées Fortes" section of Wired, January, 1996.
The Jazz Flute -- A brief essay on the history and nature of the flute in jazz
"Empire of Autumn: The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867," World's Fair, summer, 1986 -- an assessment of the architecture, art, and social thought of the second international exhibition held in France
"Heroism in Defeat: The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1878," World's Fair, autumn, 1986 -- an assessment of the architecture, art, and social thought of the third international exhibition held in France
"Revolution: The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889," World's Fair, winter, 1986 -- an assessment of the architecture, art, and social thought of the fourth international exhibition held in France
"Culmination: The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900," World's Fair, summer, 1987 --an assessment of the architecture, art, and social thought of the fifth international exhibition held in France
"Where Art Deco Was Born: Paris, 1925," World's Fair, winter, 1989 ‹ a discussion of the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs
"Empire of the Republic: the Exposition Coloniale Internationale de Paris, 1931," WorldÕs Fair magazine, Volume VIII, Number 4 and Contemporary French Civilization, Winter/Spring, 1990 -- a discussion of the social, intellectual and artistic aspects of the French colonial exposition
"Confrontation: The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1937," World's Fair, winter, 1988 -- an assessment of the architecture, art, and social thought of the sixth and final international exhibition held in France
*** Three essays on the Paris expositions -- 1867, 1878, and 1937 -- appear
in Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions (Greenwood
Press, 1990), edited by John Findling
Here is the introductory section, where we look at the history of marketplaces, fairs, salons, spectacles, etc. as predecessors of the Paris expositions.
"The First Exposition: L'Exposition Publique des Produits de l'Industrie Française, Paris, 1798," In World's Fair, Volume X, number 1 -- an analysis of the first national industrial exposition