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WHOLE EARTH CATALOG 1968Understanding Whole Systems
Buckminster Fuller
Cosmic View
Full Earth
Earth Photographs
The World From Above
Surface Anatomy
Geology IllustratedSensitive Chaos
A Year From Monday
General Systems Yearbook
Synthesis of Form
On Growth and Form
Tantra Art
Psychological Reflections
The Human Use of Human Beings
The Ghost in the MachineThe Year 2000
The Futurist
Shelter and Land UseThe Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller
Space Structures
Tensile Structures, Volume One
Dome Cookbook
Good News
Architectural Design
The Japanese House
Audel Guides
Alaskan Mill
Village Technology
The Indian Tipi
Tipis
Aladdin Kerosene Lamps
Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth
Two Mushroom Books
Organic Gardening
ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture
Universal Mill
Industry and CraftThe Way Things WorkIntroduction to Engineering Design
The Measure of Man
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
New Scientist
Scientific American
Industrial Design
Product Engineering
Clearinghouse
Science and Civilization in China, Volume IV,
Part 2
Silvo Catalog
Brookstone Tools
Jensen Tools
Miners Catalog
Blasters' Handbook
Direct Use of the Sun's Energy
Structure, Form and Movement
Van Waters & Rogers
Bookmaking
Zone System Manual
A Sculptor's Manual
Creative Glass Blowing
Buckskin
Cut Beads
Melrose Yarns
CommunicationsHuman Biocomputer
The Mind of the Dolphin
Information91OOA Computer
Cybernetics
Eye and Brain
Design for a Brain
Education Automation
Intelligent Life in the Universe
The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of SpaceLafayette and Allied Catalogs
Heathkit
Modern Business Forms
American Cinematographer
American Cinematographer Manual
The Technique of Documentary Film Production
The Technique of Television of ProductionAuto Repair Manual
Books
Subject Guide to Books in Print
Art Prints
CommunityThe Modern Utopian
The Realist
Green Revolution
Kibbutz: Venture in Utopia
Dune
Groups Under Stress
The Merck Manual
Land for Sale
Consumer Reports
Government Publications
The Armchair Shopper's Guide
How to Get 20% to 90% off on Everything You Buy
NomadicsInnovator
The Retreater's Bibliography
The Book of Survival
The Survival Book
Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes
Camping and Woodcraft
Light Weight Camping Equipment and How to Make It
Backpacking
L.L. Bean
Recreational Equipment
Gerry Outdoor Equipment
Kaibab Boots
Hot Springs
The Explorers Trademark Log
National Geographic
Sierra Club
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Trout Fishing In American
LearningToward a Theory of Instruction
The Black BoxTHIS Magazine is about Schools
Cuisenaire Rods
ITA
LIFE Science Library
Kaiser Aluminum News
700 Science Experiments for Everybody
Edmund Scientific
WFF 'N PROOFDr. Nim
We Built Our Own Computers
American Boys Handy Book
Pioneer Posters
Sense Relaxation
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
Meditation Cushions and Mats
Self HypnotismPsycho-Cybernetics
A Yaqui Way of Knowledge
Fundamentals of Yoga
The Act of Creation
The I Ching
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WHOLE EARTH CATALOG 1968
PURPOSEl/l/e are as gods and might as well get used to it. So far, remotely done
power and glory —as via government, big business, formal education,
church —has succeeded to the point where gross obscure actual gains.
In response to this dilemma and to these gains a realm of intimate,
personal power is developing —power of the individual to conduct his
own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment,
and share his adventure with whoever is interested. Tools that aid this
process are sought and promoted by the WHOLE EARTH CATALOG.
FUNCTIONThe WHOLE EARTH CATALOG functions as an evaluation and access
device. With it, the user should know better what is worth
getting and where and how to do the getting.
An item is listed in the CATALOG if it is deemed:
1) Useful as a tool,
2) Relevant to independent education,
3) High quality or low cost,
4) Not already common knowledge,
5) Easily available by mail.
This information is continually revised according to the experience
and suggestions of CATALOG users and staff.
USING THE 1968 CATALOGWARNING: Using the access information from the 1968 C 11 drive you nuts.Publishers begged us not to reprint the Catalog with their names anywhere nearbooks they no longer carry Please don't call a publisher and as a book becauseyou saw it here.
r >v
The LIVE TURTLE indicates that abook or tool, or its worthy replacement, lives on. Not surprisingly,access has changed over thirtyyears. See new access on page62. If the 1968 item is no longeravailable, but we have found a successor we think is worth noting, thereplacement is also found on p. 62.
The DEAD TURTLE means that thetool or book is essentially notavailable. Maybe an antiquarianbookstore or gizmo collector hasit. Check a library. As far as we cantell, nothing of equal excellencehas replaced it. If you know of anoutstanding successor, tell us.
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Buckminster Fuller
The insights of Buckminster Fuller are what initiated thiscatalog.
Of the four books reviewed here, Nine Chains to the Moonis his earliest and most openly metaphysical, Ideas andIntegrities his most personal, No More Secondhand Godthe most recent, World Design Science Decade the mostprogrammatic.
People who beef about Fuller mainly complain about hisrepetition - the same ideas again and again, it's embar rassing. It is embarrassing, also illuminating, because thesame notions take on different uses when re-approached
from different angles or with different contexts. Fuller'slectures have a raga quality of rich nonlinear endlessimprovisation full of convergent surprises.
Some are put off by his language, which makes demandson your head like suddenly discovering an extra engine inyour car - if you don't let it drive you faster, it'll drag you.Fuller won't wait. He spent two years silent after illusorylanguage got him in trouble, and he returned to humancommunication with a redesigned instrument.
With that, empirical curiosity, and New England persever ance Fuller has forged one of the most original personalities andfunctional intellects of the age.
I see God inthe instruments and the mechanisms thatworkreliably,more reliably than the limited sensory departments ofthe human mechanism.And God saysobserve the paradoxof man's creative potentialsand his destructive tactics.He could have his new worldthrough sufficient lovefor "all's fair"in love as well as in warwhich means you can
junk as much rubbish,skip as many stupid agreementsby love,spontaneous unselfishness radiant.
The revolution has come-set on fire from the top.Let it burn swiftly.Neither the branches, trunk, nor roots will be endangered.Only last year's leaves andthe parasite-bearded moss and orchidswill not be therewhen the next spring brings fresh growthand free standing flowers.
Here is God's purpose-for God, to me, it seems,is a verbnot a noun,proper or improper;is the articulationnot the art, objective or subjective;is loving,not the abstraction "love" commanded or entreated;is knowledge dynamic,not legislative code,not proclamation law.not academic dogma, not ecclesiastic canon.Yes, God is a verb,the most active,connoting the vast harmonicreordering of the universefrom unleashed chaos of energy.And there is born unheraldeda great natural peace,not out of exclusivepseudo-static securitybut out of including, refining, dynamic balancing.Naught is lost.Only the false and nonexistent are dispelled.
And I've thought through to tomorrowwhich is also today.The telephone ringsand you say to meHello Buckling this is Christopher; orDaddy it's Allegra; orMr. Fuller this is the Telephone Company Business Office;and I say you are inaccurate.Because I knew you were going to calland furthermore I recognizethat it is God who is "speaking."
'• •• • ' .
I > I '' I J '- : : : ; : :: • : : •• • v ^ r T U : ; . ,
:
Ideas and IntegritiesBuckminster Fuller1963; 318 pp.
$10.00 postpaid
from:Pre-*
Neor
-Mall Inc.1 Cliffs
'07631
ARTH CATALOG
Standing by the lake on a jump-or-think basis, the very first spontaneous question coming to mind was, "If you put aside everythingyou've ever been asked to believe and have recourse only to your ownexperiences do you have any conviction arising from those experienceswhich either discards or must assume an a priori greater intellect thanthe intellect of man?" The answer was swift and positive. Experiencehad clearly demonstrated an a priori anticipatory and only intellectually apprehendable orderliness of interactive principles operating in theuniverse into which we are born. These principles are discovered butare never invented by man. I said to myself, "I have faith in theintegrity of the anticipatory intellectual wisdom which we may call'God.'" My next question was, "Do I know best or does God knowbest whether I may be of any value to the integrity of universe?"The answer was, "You don't know and no man knows, but thefaith you have just established out of experience imposes recognitionof the a priori wisdom of the fact of your being." Apparently addres sing myself, I said, "You do not have the right to eliminate yourself,you do not belong to you. You belong to the universe. The significance of you will forever remain obscure to you, but you may assumethat you are fulfilling your significance if you apply yourself to convert
ing all your experience to highest advantage of others. You and allmen are here for the sake of other men."
I .
Nine Chains to the MoonBuckminster Fuller1938, 1963; 375 pp.
No More Secondhand GodBuckminster Fuller1963; 163 pp.
$2.45 $2.25 postpaidboth frr n:Sou"' ' '' !nois Univesity Press600 randCar; Illinois 62903
WHf H CATALOG
[Ideas and Integrities]Thinking is a putting-aside, rather than a putting-in discipline, e.g.,putting aside the tall grasses in order to isolate the trail into informative viewability. Thi nking is FM - frequency modu lation- for it
results in tuning-out of irrelevancies as a result of definitiveresolution of the exclusivity turned-in or accepted feed-backmessages' pattern differentiatability.
["Omnidirectional Halo" No More Secondhand God]
Common to all such "human" mechanisms - and without whichthey are imbecile contrapt ions - is their guidance by a phantomcaptain.
This phantom captain has neither weight nor sensorial tangibility,as has often been scientifically proven by careful weighing operations at the moment of abandonment of the ship by the phantomcaptain, i.e., at the instant of "dea th." He may be likened to thevariant of polarity dominance in our bipolar electric world which,when balanced and unit, vanishes as abstract unity I or O. With thephantom captain's departure, the mechanism becomes inoperativeand very quickly disintegrates into basic chemical elements.
This captain has not only an infinite self-identity characteristic but,also, an infinite understanding . He has furthermor e, infinite sympathy with all captains of mechanisms similar to his . . . .
An illuminating rationalization indicated that captains - beingphantom, abstract, infinite, and bound to other captains by a bond
of understanding as proven by their recognition of each other's signals and the meaning thereof by reference to a common direction
(toward "perfe ct") - are not only all related, but are one and thesame captain. Mathematically, since characteristics of unity exist,they cannot be non-identical.
WDSD Document 1
And you sayaren't you being fantastic?And knowing you I say no.
All organized religions of the pastwere inherently developedas beliefs and creditsin "second hand" information.
Therefore it will be an entirely new erawhen man finds himself confrontedwith direct experiencewith an obviously a prioriintellectually anticipatory competency
that has interorderedall that he is discovering.
[No More Secondhand God]
World society has throughout its millions of years on earth made its judgements upon visib le, tangib le, sensorially demonstrable criteria.We may safely say that the world is keeping its eye on the unimportantvisible 1 percent of the historical transformation while missing thesignificance of the 99 percent of overall, unseen changes. Forms areinherently visible and forms no longer can "follow functions" becausethe significant functions are invisible . . . .
There are very few men today who are disciplined to comprehend thetotally integrating significance of the 99 percent invisible activity whichis coalescing to reshape our future. There are approximately nowarnings being given to society regarding the great changes ahead.There is only the ominous general apprehension that man may beabout to annihilate himself. To the few who are disciplined to deal
with the invisibly integrating trends it is increasingly readable in thetrends that man is about to become almost 100 percent successfulas an occupant of universe.
Our Air Force Redomes were installed in the arctic mostly by eskimosand others who had never seen them before. The mass producti ontechnology made assembly possible at an average rate of 14 hourseach. One of these radomes was loaned by the U.S. Air Force to theMuseum of Modern Art in New York City for an exhibition of my workin 1959-1960. It took regular building trades skilled labor one monthto assemble the dome in New York City.
WDSD Document 2
I define 'synergy' as follows: Synergy is the unique behavior ofwhole systems, unpredicted by behavior of their respective subsystems' events.
[Ideas and Integrities]
selfishness (self-preoccupation pursued until self loses its way and selfgenerates fear and spontaneous random surging, i.e., panic, the pluralof which is mob outburst in unpremeditated wave synchronization ofthe individually random components).
[No More Secondhand God]
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To start off with it is demonstrated in the array of events which we
have touched on that we don't have to "earn a living" anymore.
The "living" has all been earned for us forever. Industrialization 's
wealth is cumulative in contradistinction to the inherently terminal,
discontinuous, temporary wealth of the craft eras of civilization such
as the Bronze Age or Stone Age. If we only understo od how that
cumulative industrial wealth has come about, we could stop playing
obsolet e games, but that is a task that cannot be acco mplis hed by
political and social reforms. Man is so deeply conditi oned in his
reflexes by his millenniums of slave function that he has too many
inferiority complexe s to yield to political reform ation. The obsolet e
games will be abandoned only when realistic, happier and more
interesting games come along to displace the obsolete games.
[WDSD Document 3]
Tension and Compression are complementary functions of structure.
Therefore as funct ions they only co-exist. When pulling a tensional
rope its girth contrac ts in compr essio n. When we load a colum n in
compr essio n its girth tends to expa nd in tensi on. When we investi
gate tension and compressi on, we find that compres sion m embers ,
as you all know as architects, have very limited lengths in relation to
their cross sections. They get too long and too slender and will
readily break. Tension mem bers, when you pull them tend to pull,
approximately, (almost but never entirely), straight instead of trying
to curve more and more as do too thin compressionall y loaded
column s. The contracti on of the tension member s in their girth,
when tensionally loaded, brings its atoms closer together which
makes it even stronger. There is no limit ratio of cross section to
length in tensional mem bers of structural syst ems. There is a
fundam ental limit ratio in compr essio n. Therefore when nature has
very large tasks to do, such as cohering the solar system or the
universe she arranges her structural system s both in the m icroc osm
and macroco sm in the following manner. Nature has compressi on
operating in little remotely positioned islands, as high energy con
centrations, such as the earth and other planets, in the macrocosm;
or as islanded electrons, or protons or other atomic nuclear compo
nents in the microc osm while cohering the whole universal system,
both macro and micro, of mutually remote, compressional, and oft
non-simul taneous, islands by comprehensive tension; -compression
islands in a non-simult aneous u niverse of tension. The Universe is
a tensegrity.[WDSD Document 2]
I was born cross-e yed. Not until I was four years old was it
discovered that this was caused by my being abnormally farsighted.
My vision was thereafter fully correc ted with lenses. Until four I
could see only large patterns, houses, trees, outlines of people with
blurred color ing. While I saw two dark areas on human faces, I did
not see a human eye or a teardrop or a huma n hair until I was four.
Despi te my new abil i ty to apprehend detai ls, my ch i ldho od's spon
taneous de pende nce only upon big pattern clues has persist ed. . . .
I am convi nced that neither I nor any other human, past or pr esent,
was or is a genius. I am convinced that what I have every physically
normal child also has at birth. We could, of cours e, hy pothesiz e
that all babies are born geniuses and get swiftly de-geniused.
Unfavorable ci rcumstances, shortsightedness, frayed nervous
systems, and ignorantly articulated love and fear of elders tend to
shut off many of the child's brain capability valves. I as lucky in
avoiding to many disconnects.
There is luck in everythi ng. My luck is that I was born c ross- eyed,
was ejected so frequently from the establi shment that I was finally
forced either to perish or to employ some of those faculties with
which we are all endowed-the use of which circumstances had
previously so frustrated as to have to put them in the deep freezer,
whence only to hellishly hot situations could provide enough heat to
melt them back into usability.
[WDSD Document 5]
In the 1920's with but little open count ry highway mileage in opera
t ion, automobi le accidents were concentrated and frequently
occurr ed within our urban and suburban presence . Witnessi ng a
number of acciden ts, I observ ed that warning signs later grew up
along the roads leading to danger points and that more traffic and
motor cycle police were put on duty. The authorities tried to cure
the malady by reforming the motorists . A relatively few special
individual drivers with much experience, steady temperament, good
coordination and natural tendency to anticipate and understand the
psychology of others emerged as "good" and approximately
accident -free drivers. Many others were acciden t prone.
In lieu of the after-the-fact curative reform, trending to highly spe
cialized individual offender case histories, my philosophy urged theanticipatory avoidance of the accident potentials through invention
of generalized highway dividers, grade separaters, clover leafing
and adequately banked curves and automatic traffic controlstop-l ightin g systems. I saw no reason why the problem sh ouldn't
be solved by preventative design rather than attempted reforms.
My resolve: Re shape environment; don' t try to reshape man.
[WDSD Document 1]
WSn
CLOSED ECOLOGICAL SYSTEI
WATER AND AIR RECIRCULATION SYSTEM
Used Cabin air
Clean Cabin air
CATALYTIC
BtMIER
Urine
HJCARBON DIOXIDE
CONCENTRATOR
ICarbon Dioxide
CARBON DIOXIDE
REDUCTION (WIT
Hydroften Carbon
METABOLIC REQUIREMENTS & RESULTANT WASTES IN POUNDS
FOR A 160 lb. MAN
TOTAL INPUT . TOTAL OUTPUT .
Oxygen
Oxygen for incin
eration * 0.75 lbs.
gmaamniBreathing jIIMI Exhaled C0 2
2.1 lbs. ||nH= 2.4 lbs
Food -1 .3 lbs.
(Dehydrated)
JllllIIJiliJkiiiiJiiLiiiiijj,
Total C02« 4.2 lbs.
N2 & NaCl
etc. -
> 0 lbs.
Water • 7.0 lbs.
Sources: (1) E. S. Kills, R. L. Butterton, Douglas Missile & space SystemsDevelopment Interplanetary Mission Life Support System, 1965.
(2) NASA; ASO Report TR 61-363.
WDSD Document 6
The Honeywell edition of Fuller's world map (more brightly
colored than previous editions) is available.
$4.0 'J po''.paid
fro •
p.
mm-WH
sennetmmmWMMfW
N M i t n
•* T'..~"
wmmm
• :• . • . •
HUMAN D A I L Y M E T A B O L I C T U R N O V E R
GramsPro te in s • 80Carbohydrates » 270Fats « 150Other solids
& minerals = 23
WW.
INPUT - 100%
3585 gms.
MANin closed
environment
system
with**~**\J|E a sp ira t ion
j—v
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Cosmic View
"The Universe in 40 Jumps" is the subtitle ofthe book. It delivers.
The man who conceived and rendered it, aDutch schoolmaster named Kees Boeke, gaveyears of work to perfecting the information inhis pictures. The result is one of the simplest,most thorough, inescapable mind blows everprinted. Your mind and you advance in and outthrough the universe, changing scale by a fac tor of ten. It very quickly becomes hard tobreathe, and you realize how magnitude- bound we've been.
I'm amazed this book isn't more commonlyavailable. It's the best seller of The WholeEarth Truck Store. People get it for theirfriends.
Cosmic ViewKees Boeke
1957; 48 pp.
3.75 postpaid
Full Earth
from
T •
6
r<
c
1 Day Company
45th Street
, N.Y.
EARTH CATALOG
In November 1967 an ATS satellite whose funds phenome nally had not been cut made a home movie. It was a timelapse film of the Earth rotating, shot from 23,000 milesabove South America. (This is synchronous distance. Thesatellite orbits at the same speed the Earth turns, so it
remains apparently stationary over one point of the equa tor.) Color photographs of the Earth were transmitted by TVevery 1/2 hour to make up a 24 hour sequence. The shots
Earth photographs
NASA SP. 129 is a hell of a book. Two hundred forty-threefull page color photographs of our planet from the Geminiflights of 1965. if it were a Sierra Club book, and it couldbe, it would cost $25. It costs $7.
There are numerous discoveries in the book. One is thatthis beautiful place is scarcely inhabited at all.
were lap dissolved together to make the movie. You seedarkness, then a crescent of dawn, than advancing daylightand immense weather patterns whorling and creeping on thespherical surface, then the full round mandala Earth of noon,then gibbous afternoon, crescent twilight, and darkness
again.
A 16mm 400-foot silent color print of the film includes severalforms of the 24-hour cycle and close-up cropping of specificsectors as their weather develops through the day.
The film (NR 68-713) costs An 8x10 color print of the
$48.94 plus shipping
frc ?
earth (68-HC-74) costs
$5.64 postpaid
B\ tion Pictures f r -6£ ;t NE
\h In , D.C. 20002C Arts Studi o
6 -eet, NWV on, D.C. 20001
Color posters (22x27) of the full earth photo grap hs may be ordered
from th e WHOLE EARTH CATALOG for
$2.00 postpaid
The posters are available f or resale (minim um orde r 5) at 50 % discount.
; ,..; « z .i
Earth Photographs from Gemini III, IV, and V.
NASA
1967; 266 pp.
$7.00 postpaid
dent of Documents
nment Printing Office
4, D.C. 20402
9*1, H» mv-y
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The World From Above
Close-up glamor shots of the Earth. Mystery shots (What is that?What's our altitude above it, 10 feet or 10,000?) (Fold out captions tellall.) Good traffic flow pattern shots: surface anatomy of civilization. Nota bad compendium; it'll do until they reprint E.A. Gutkind's Our WorldFrom the Air.
The World From Abovefrom:
Hanns Reich »!:"' an' W-.ng, Inc.1966; 88 pictures 141 venue
Ne> \I.Y. 10 010
$7.50 po tpa id or
Surface Anatomy
This books is included as a companion piece to the Earthpicture books. The whole lovely system of the humancreature, seen from without, surface by surface, is here.One of its main revelations is how cliche ridden our usualviews of ourselves are - we are still not good with mirrors(satellites were up 10 years before we got a full view ofthe Earth). Posing friends and neighbors, with a simplelight set-up and a 35mm camera, Joseph Royce has shotthe most beautiful human album I know.
It also teaches anatomy.
Surface Anatomy
Joseph Royce
1965; 124 photographs
and some diagrams
$12.50 postpaid
from
-F \. D:«'is Jompany
19" -ry Stree t
Ph a, Pa 19103
Of
WHO^_ cA.TTH CATALOG
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Geology Illustrated
A artist of aerial photography, Shelton uses some 400 of hisfinest photos to illuminate a discussion of the whole-earthsystem. Not a traditional textbook, but a fascinating explo ration of the problems posed by asking "How did that comeabout?" Worth buying for the photos and book designalone, but you'll probably find yourself becoming interestedin geology regardless of your original intentions.
[Reviewed by Larry McCombs]
As a means of communicating geological concepts, the pictures arefully as important as the words that accompany them. On mostpages the photographs represent the facts, the words supply theinterpretation. Many of the illustrations will, therefore, repay a littleof the kind of attention that would be accorded the real feature inthe field. In keeping with this, almost no identifying marks havebeen placed on the photographs and very few on the drawings.The text (which almost invariably concerns an illustration on thesame or a facing page) serves as an expanded legend for the picture; if, while reading it, it is necessary to look more than once to $ 1 0 . 0 0 postpaididentify some feature with certainty, this is no more than Natureasks of those who contemplate her unlabelled cliffs and hills.
Geology IllustratedJohn S. Shelton1966; 434 pp. from:
.V H6'S
WHU_£ EARTH CATALOG
saman & Companyet Street3isco, Ca 94104
Sensitive Chaos
Schwenk directs an institute in theBlack Forest devoted to the study of themovements of water and air. Within thelast few centuries, he says we have"lost touch with the spiritual nature ofwater." As a result, we have attemptedto control the fluids in ways contrary totheir nature, and the results are evidentin the problems of pollution, damage tothe ecosystem, and even drying up ofnatural water sources. Schwenkattempts to penetrate beyond the mereobservable phenomena to an ability to"read" the true spiritual nature of flow ing substances.
I found the book to be a peculiarly
fascinating mixture of overgeneraliza- tion, simplification, undifferentiated factand theory, and shrewd observationand insight. If you regard analogy asthe weakest form of argument, thisbook is definitely not for you. On theother hand, Schwenk's juxtaposition ofsimilar forms in different flowing mediamay spark some exciting bisociations, ifyou are open to them. The section of88 pages of black and white photos atthe back of the book could stand aloneas a beautiful art collection.
[Reviewed by Larry McCombs]
Here too the form of the vortexseems to hover invisibly over thegrowth processes, even before thehorns are actually there, for theyproceed along this spiral path withmathematical exactitude in theirannual growth. It is significant thatthe axes of the two spiraling hornsmeet either in the nose or the eyesor in their immediate vicinity, a factwhich stresses the strong connectionof the horns with sense perceptionand with the animal's sense of itssurroundings. Furthermore, instructure, the horn, like the watervortex, is finely laminated, layerupon layer.
Sensitive ChaosTheodor Schwenk1965; 144 pp. 88 plates
$ 1 2 . 0 0 [Air postpaid]
from:Ri ieiner Press3! loadL . W1Er
$8.70 [postpaid]
from:WHOLE EARTH CATALOG
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A Year from Monday
The question is: Is my thought chan ging? It is an d it isn't.One evening after dinner, I wa s telling friends that I was not concernedwith improving th e wor ld . On e of th e m said: I thought yo u alwayswere. I then expla ined that I believe - a nd am acting upon - MarshallMcLuhan's statement that we have throu gh electronic t echnol ogy
produced an extension of our brains to the world formerly outside
of us . To me that m eans that th e discipl ines, gradual an d sudden(principally Oriental), formerly practiced by individuals to pacify
their minds, bringing them into accord with ultimate reality, mustno w be practiced social ly - that is, not just inside ou r heads, bu t out
side of them, in the world, where ou r central nervous s ystem now is.
This has brought it about that th e work an d thought of BuckminsterFuller is of prime importance to m e. He more than any other to myknowledge sees t he world si tuation-al l of it-clearly and has fullyreasoned projects fo r turning our attent ion away from "kill in gry"
toward "l ivingry." . . .
Coming back t o the notion t hat my thought is changing. Say it isn't.
One thing, however, that keeps it moving is that I'm continually
finding ne w teachers wi th whom I study. I had studi ed with RichardBuhlig, Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, Daisetz Suzuki, Guy
Nearing. Now I'm studying wi th N.O. Brown, Marshal l McLuhan,Buckminster Fuller, Marcel Duchamp. In connection wi th my current
studies wi th Duchamp, it turns ou t that I'm a poor chessplayer. My mind
seems in some respect lacking, s o that I make obviously stupid moves.
I d o not for a moment doubt that this lack of intelligence affects m ymusic an d think ing generally. Howeve r, I have a redeem ing quality:I w as gi fted wi th a sunny disposi tion.
General Systems Yearbook
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vwlaea, Aataawt iaa otters wttat*§ daaa andwhat* we do ft. You cowJd always tell
when l i e was about to go out of her
mind. She would begie to speak the
truth. April '
8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
10/65
Synthesis of Form
Christopher Alexander is a design person
that other people refer to a lot. This book
deals with the nature of current design
problems that are expanding clear beyond
any individual's ability to know and correlate
all the factors. The methodology presented
here is one of analysis of a problem for
misfits and synthesis of form (via computer-
translatable nets and hierarchies) for
minimum misfits.
(From the table of contents)2.Goodness of Fi 153.The Source of Good Fit4.The Unselfconscious Process5.The Selfconscious Process5
But if we think of the requirements from a negativepoint of view, as potential misfits, there is a simpleway of picking a finite set. This is because it isthrough misfit that the problem originally bringsitself to our attenti on. We take just those relationsbetween form and context which obtrude moststrongly, which demand attention most clearly,which seem most likely to go wrong. We cannotdo better than this. If there were some intrinsicway of reducing the list of requirements to a few,this would mean in essence that we were in possession of a field description of the context: ifthis were so, the problem of creating fit wouldbecome trivial, and no longer problem of design.We cannot have a unitary or field description of acontext and still have a design problem worth
attention.
Indeed, not only is the man who lives in the form theone who made it, but there is a special closenessof contact between man and form which leads to constant rearrangement of unsatisfactory detail,constant improvement. The man, already responsiblefor the original shaping of the form, is also alive to itsdemands while he inhabits it. Any anything whichneeds to be changed is changed at once.
A subsystem, roughly speaking, is one of the obviouscomponents of the system, like the parts shown with acircle round them. If we try to adjust a set of variables
which does not constitute a subsystem, the repercussions of the adjustment affect others outside the setbecause the set is not sufficiently ind ependent. Theprocedure of the unselfconscious system is so
The greatest clue to the inner structure of any dynamicprocess lies in its reaction to change.
The Mousgoum cannot afford, as we do, to regard maintenance as a nuisance which is best forgotten until it istime to call the local plumber. It is in the same hands asthe building operation itself, and its exigencies are aslikely to shape the form as thoseof the initial construction.
The selfconscious individual's grasp of problems is constantly misled. His concepts and categories, besidesbeing arbitrary and unsuitable, are self-perpetuating.
Under the influence of concepts, he not only does thingsfrom a biased point of view, but sees them biasedly aswell. The concept s control his perception of fit and misfit - until in the end he sees nothing but deviations fromhis conceptual dogmas, and loses not only the urge buteven the mental opportunity to frame his problems moreappropriately.
The solution of a design problem is really only anothereffort to find a unified descripti on. The search forrealization through constructive diagrams is an effortto understand the required form so fully that there isno longer a rift between its functional specificationand the shape it takes.
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the me opposite, and cacti h m m centre in the middle of that chord.
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ample of 129V
The engineer, who had been busy designing a new and powerful crane, saw in amoment that the arrangement of the bonytrabeculae was nothing more nor less thana diagram of the lines of stress, or directions of tension and compression, in the
loaded structure; in short, that Nature wasstrengthening the bone in precisely themanner and direction in which strength wasrequired; and he is said to have cried out,That's my crane!'
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8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
11/65
'«£»! I
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8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
12/65
Psychological Reflections
Jung in capsules and tasting like medicine.
The selection and editing of paragraphs from Jung's writingsby Jacobi is done with an informed sense of continuity,so that the book is readable in sequence or by bits.
In a world increasingly subjective, everybody is psychologiststo one another. Here is one master book of tools.
Psychological ReflectionsC.G. Jung [ed. Jacobi]1945, 1953, 1961: 340 pp.
The Human Use of Human Beings
Norbert Wiener is one of the founders of an n-dimensionalinhabited world whose nature we've yet to learn. He is alsoone of the all-time nice men.
A proper sequal to his Cybernetics (see p. 32), this book issocial, untechnical, ult imate in most of its consideration.Its domain is the whole earth of the mind.
The Human Use of Human BeingsNorbert Wiener1950, 1954; 288pp
$2.25 postpaid
FromH; Row
4f 3fd StreetN N.Y. 10016
w __ "ARTH CATALOG
The man who would learn the human mind will gain almost nothingfrom experimental psychology . Far better for him to put away his academic gown, to say good-bye to the study, and to wander with humanheart throughout the wor ld. There, in the horrors of the prison, the asylum,and the hospital, in the drinking-shops, brothels, and gambling hells, inthe salons of the elegant, in the exchanges, socialist meetings, churches,religious revivals, and sectarian ecstasies, through love and hate, throughthe experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reapricher store of knowledge than text-books a foot thick could give him.
The would he know to doctor the sick with real knowledge of thehuman soul.
A neurosis has really come to an end when it has overcome the wronglyego. The neurosis itself is not healed; it heals us. The man is ill,but the illness is an attempt of nature to heal him. We can thereforelearn a great deal for the good of our health from the illness itself, andthat which appears to the neurotic person as absolutely to be rejectedis just the part which contains the true gold which we should otherwisenever have found.
The secret of the earth is not a joke and not a paradox. We need onlysee how in American the skull- and hip-measurements of all Europeanraces become Indianized in the second generation. That is the secretof the American soil. And every soil has its secret, of which we carryan unconscience image in our souls: a relationship of spirit to body andof body to earth.
The greater the contrast, the great the potential. Great energy onlycomes from a correspondingly great tension between opposites.
No one develops his personality because someone told him it would beuseful or advisable for him to do so. Nature has never yet allowed herself to be imposed upon by well-meaning advice. Only coercion workingthrough casual connections moves nature, and human nature also.Nothing changes itself without need, and human personality least ofall. It is immensely conservative, not to say inert. Only the sharpestneed is able to rouse it. The development of personality obeys no wish,no command, and no insight, but only need; it wants the motivating coercion of inner or outer necessities. Any other development would beindividualis m. This is why the accusation of individualism is a cheapinsult when it is raised against the natural development of personality.
It is naturally a fundamental error to believe that if we see an anti-value in a value, or an untruth in a truth, the value or the truth isthen invalid. They have only become relative. Everything humanis relative, because everything depends upon an inner polarity, for
everything is a phenomenon of energy. And energy itself necessarilydepends on a previous polarity without which there can be no energy.There must always be high and low, hot and cold, etc., so that theprocess of adjustment which is energy, can occur. The tendency todeny all previous values in favour of their opposites is therefore justas exaggerated as the former one-sidedness. Where generally accepted and undoubted values are suddenly thrown away, there is a fatalloss. Whoever acts in this way ends by throwing himself ove rboardwith the discarded values.
The gigantic catastrophes that threaten us are not elemental happeningsof a physical or biological kind, but are psychic events. We are threatened in a fearful way by wars and revolutions that are nothing else thanpsychic epidemi cs. At any moment a few million people may be seizedby a madness, and then we have another world war or devastating revolution. Instead of being exposed to wild beasts, tumbling rocks andinundating waters, man is exposed today to the elemental forces of hisown psyche. Psychic life is a world-power that exceeds by many timesall the powers of the earth. The Enlightenment, which stripped natureand human institutions of goods, overlooked the one god of fear whodwells in the psyche. Fear of God is in place, if anywhere, before thedomination power of psychic life.
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$1.25
FronA . • • • • ; " ~>ks
2 - 55th StreetM , N.Y. 10019
or i.. ..-.i look stores
It is the thesis of this book that society can only be understoodthrough a study of the messages and the communication facilitieswhich belong to it; and that in the future development of these messages and communication facilities, messages between man and machine and between machine and machine, are destined to play anever-increasing part.
Messages are themselves a form of pattern and organization. Indeed,it is possible to treat sets of messages as having an entropy like setsof states of the external world. Just as entropy is a measure of disorganization, the information carried by a set of messages is a measureof organization. In fact, it is possible to interpret the information carried by a message as essentially the negative of its entropy, and thenegative logarithm of its probability. That is, the more probable themessage, the less information it gives. Cliches, for example, are lessilluminating than great poems.
I believe that Ashby's brilliant idea of the unpurposeful randommechanism which seeks for its own purpose through a process oflearning is not only one of the great philosophical contributions ofthe present day, but will lead to highly useful technical developmentsthe task of automatiza tion. Not only can we build purpose intomachines, but in an overwhelming majority of cases a machinedesigned to avoid certain pitfalls of breakdown will look for purposeswhich it can fulfill.
We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate them
selves. A pattern is a message, and may be transmit ted as a message.
It is illuminating to know that the sort of phenomenon which isrecorded subjectively as emotion may not be merely a useless epi-phenomenon of nervous action, but may control some essentialstage in learning, and in other similar processes.
It is the great public which is demanding the utmost of secrecy formodern science in all things which may touch its military uses.This demand for secrecy is scarcely more than the wish of a sickcivilization not to learn the progress of its own disease.
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The Ghost in the Machine
Koestler's latest book seems to be sharing the fate of NormanO. Brown's Love's Body: the book after the big influentialone (Act of Creation, Life Against Death) is considered toofar out, fragmented, excessive . . . and sells half-heartedly.
Nevermind. Koestler here is doing useful dirty work: savagingrat psychology, exploring broader implications of bio logical systems research, and foreseeing our imminent de mise unless we organize our brain-use better. Which bringshim to drugs. He proposes research to find a chemical whichwill voluntarily disengage old-brain from new-brain —the inte rior emotional kill-heavy unreprogrammable stuff from exte rior rational flexible stuff. Our paranoia is accidentally des igned in, he suggests, and may be designed out.Get to it outlaws. No nation is going to support this research.
The Ghost in the Machine
Arthur Koestler
1967; 384 pp.
from:Macrr lar CompanyFrc • -""Brown StreetsRi\ Burl ington CountyNe y 08075
$6.95 postpaid ARTH CATALOG
The Year 2000
ESCAPE FROM SPECIALIZATION
There is now strong evidence in favour of the theory, proposed by
Garstang as far back as 1928, that the chordates—and thus, we, the
verebrates —are descended from the larval stage of some primitive
echinoderm, perhaps rather like the sea-urchin or sea cucumber
(echinoderm = 'prickly-skinned'). Now an adul t sea cucumber
would not be a very inspiring ancestor—it is a sluggish creature which
looks like an ill-stuffed sausage with leathery skin, lying on the sea
bott om. But its free-f loating larva is a much more promis ing prop osi
tion: unlike the adult sea cucumb er, the larva has bilateral symmetry like a fish; it has a ciliary band—a forerunner of the nervous
system—and some other sophisticated features not found In the
adult animal. We must assume that the sedentary adult residing on the
sea bottom had to rely on mobile larvae to spread the species far
and wide in the ocean, as plants scatter their seeds in the wind; that the
larvae, which had to fend for themselves, exposed to much strong
er selective pressures than the adults, gradually became more fishlike; and that eventually they became sexually mature while stil l in
the free-swimming, larval state—thus giving rise to a new type of an i mal which never settled on the botto m at all, and altogeth er elim
inated the senile, sedentary cucumber stage from its life history.
This speeding up of sexual maturation relative to the development
of the rest of the body—or, to put it differently, the gradual retard
ation of bodily development beyond the age of sexual maturation—
is a familiar evolutionar y pheno meno n, known as neoteny. Its
result is that the animal begi ns to breed while stil l displaying larval
or juvenile features; and it frequently happens that the fully adultstage is never reached—it is dropped off the life cycle.
This tendency towards a 'prolonged chi ldhood', wi th the correspond
ing squeezing out of the final adult stages, amounts to a rejuvenation
and de-specialization of the race—an escape from the cul-de-sac in the
evolutiona ry maze. As J.Z. Young wrote, adopt ing Garstang' s views:
Th e proble m which remains is in fact not "ho w have verteb rates been
formed from sea squirts?" but "how have vertebrates eliminated the
(adult) sea squirt stage from their life histor y?" It is wholly reasonable
to consider that this has been accompl ished by paedomorphos is.' . . .
Neoteny in itself is of course not enough to produce these evolution
ary bursts of adaptive radiatio ns. The 'rejuven ation' of the race merely
provides the opportunity for evolutionary changes to operate on the
early, malleable phases of ontogeny: hance paedomorphosis, 'the
shaping of the young' . In contr ast to it, gero ntom orpho sis (geras =
old age) is the modif icati on of fully adult structur es which are highlyspecial ized. This sounds like a rather technical dist incti on, but it is
in fact of vital impor tance . Gero ntom orpho sis cannot lead to radical
changes and new departures; it can only carry an already specialized
evolution ary line one more step further in the same directio n—as a
rule into the dead end of the maze. . . .
DRAW BACK TO LEAP
It seems that this retracing of steps to escape the dead ends of the
maze was repeated at each decisive evolutionar y turning point. I
have mentioned the evolution of the vertebrates from a larval form
of some primitiv e echin oder m. Insects have in all l ikelihood em erged
from a millipede-like ancestor—not, however, from adult millipedes,
whose stru cture is too special ized, but from its larval form s. The
conquest of the dry land was initiated by amphibians whose ancestry
goes back to the most primitive type of lung-breathing fish; whereas
the apparently more successful later lines of highly specialized gi l l-breathing fishes all came to a dead end. The same story was r epeated
at the next major step, the reptiles, who derived from early, primitive
amphibians—not from any of the later forms that we know.
And lastly, we come to the most striking case of paedomorphosis,
the evolution of our own specie s. It is not generally recognize d that
the human adult resembles more the embryo of an ape rather than an
adult one.
Is Herman Kahn the bad guy (as liberal opinion would haveit) or a good guy (as in some informed opinion)? Kahn willhang you on that question and while you're hanging jam infor mation and scalding notions into your ambivalence. He doesthis best with a live audience, but this book is a fine collect ion of the information he uses.
Here is most of the now-basic methodology of future study —multi-fold trends, surprise-free projections, scenarios, etc.And here are their results. It's the best future-book of theseveral that are out.
In my opinion, it is not particularly an accurate picture ofthe future but the most thorough picture we have of thepresent —the present statistics, present fantasies, present ex pectations that we're planning with . We are what we thinkour future is.
If computer capacities were to continue to increase by a factor of tenevery two or three years until the end of the century (a factor betw eena hundred bill ion and ten quadrill ion), then all current concepts aboutcomp uter limit ations will have to be recons idered. Even if the trendcontinues for only the next decade or two, the improvements overcurrent comp uter s would be fact ors of thou sands to millions. If weadd the l ikely enormous improvements in input-output devices, programming and problem formulation, and better understanding of thebasic phenomena being studied, manipulated, or simulated, these estimates of improveme nt may be wildly conservat ive. And even if therate of change slows down by several factors, there would stil l be roomin the next thirty-three years for an overall improvement of some fiveto ten orders of magnit ude. Therefor e, it is necessar y to be skepticalof any sweeping but often meaningless or nonrigourous statements suchas "a computer is limited by the designer—it cannot create anything hedoes not put in, " or that "a comp uter c annot be truly creative ororiginal. " By the year 2000, compu ters are likely to match , simulate,or surpass some of man's most "human-like" intellectual abilities,including perhaps some of his aesthetic and creative capacities, in addition to having some new kinds of capabilities that human beings donot have. These compu ter capa cities are not certa in; however, it is anopen question what inherent limitations compu ter s have. If it turnsout that they cannot duplicate or exceed certain characteristicallyhuman capabilities, that will be one of the most important discoveries of thetwentieth century.
The Year 2000Herman Kahn and Anthony J. Wiener
1967; 431 pp.
Figure 10 is from Garstang's original paper, and is meant to represent
the process of evolution by paed omor phos is. Z to Z9 is the progre s
sion of zygotes (fertil ized eggs) along the evolutionary ladder; A to A9
represent s the adult forms resulting from each zygote. Thus the black
line from Z4 to A4, for instance, represents ontogeny, the transforma
tionof egg into adult; the dotted line from A to A9 represents phyloge
ny—t he evolution of higher form s. But note that the thin lines of
evolutionary progress to not lead directly from, say, A4 to A5—that
would be gerontomorphosis, the evolutionary transformation of an
adult form. The line of progress branche s off from the unfi nished
embr yonic stage of A4. This represents a kind of evolutio nary retreat
from the finished product, and a new departure toward the evolution
ary novelty Z5-A5. A4 could be the adult sea cucum ber: then t he
branching-off point on the line A4-Z4 would be its larva; or A8 could
be the adult primate ancestor of man, and the branching-off point itsembryo— which is so much more l ike the A9—ourselves.
PIC m i i©
{after Gawtaag); see tact
But Garstang's diag ram could also represent a funda ment al aspect ofthe evolution of ideas. . . .
The revolutions in the history of science are successful escapes from
blind alleys. The evolution of knowled ge is conti nuous only dur ing
those periods of consolidation and elaboration which follow a major
break -thr ough. Sooner or later, however, consolida tion leads to in
creasing rigidity, orthodoxy, and so into the dead end of overspecializa-tion —to the koala bear. Eventually there is a crisis and a new
'break-through' of the blind alley—followed by another period of
consolidation, a new orthodoxy and so the cycle starts again.
But the theoretical structure which emerges from the break-through
is not built on top of the previous ediface; it branches out from the
point where progress has gone wrong. The great revolutionary
turns in the evolution of ideas have a decide dly paedo morp hic
character. Each zygot e in the diagram would repres ent a seminal
idea, the seed out of which a new theory develops until it reaches
adult, fully matured stage. One might call this the ontogeny of a
theory. The history of scien ce is a series of such ontoge nies. True,
novelties are not derived directly from a previous adult theory, but
from a new seminal idea—not from the sedentary sea urchin but from
its mobile larva. Onl y in the quiet periods of consolida tion do we
find gerontomorphosis—sma l l improveme nts added to a ful ly grown estab
lished theory. . . .
At first sight the analogy may appe ar far-f etche d; I shall try to s how
that it has a solid factual bas is. Biological evo lution is to a large ex
tent a history of escapees from the blind alleys of overspecialization
the evolution of ideas a series of escapes from the bondage of mental
habit; and the escape mechanism in both cases is based on the principle of undoing and re-doing, the draw-back- to-leap pattern.
The Futurist
In part because the Future is a new field of methodic study,this is a lively newsletter. It reports bi-monthly on new booksbooks and programs having anything to do with social fore casting. Future study is like education: everybody thinksthey're good at it. The newsletter has some of that dilutedflavor, but it doesn't matter. Useful pointing at usefulactivities done here.
fro~v
Wr ure Society
P.'. 9285
2C - t Sta tion
W? on, D.C. 20036
$9.95 postpaid
from: 1 1
The I. jc mi ll an Co mp an y ;. ir ron t and Brown Streets
l jRr Burl ington County
l j
N sy 080 75O* 14W H L . _ E M R T H CATALOG
>5
TAlLfc I %
The Pemtmdmtriai (&r Pmt>Mam Contumftikm) Society
Per capita income about fifty times the pretmlus trial
Most "economic" artivines are tertiary and cpiaterfMiry (icvvk x-orte nted) ,
rather than primary or secondary {prodnetion-o riented)
Bwsiness firms no longer the major source of innovation
There may be more "consent ive«T < vs. "marketives*")
Effective floor on income and welfare
rtency no longer primary
Market plays diminished role compared to public sector and "social
accounts"
Widespread "cybernation"
"Small world"
Typtcal "doubling time" between three and thirty yearsLearning society
Rapid improvement in educational institutions and tcchnitfues
Erosion (in middle class J mi work-oriented. acki««em«tit«o«ei?ted. ad
vancement -oriented values
Ercsion of "national interest" talue*
Sensate, secular, humartt&t, perhaps t*if*indttt§cni criteria become central
FUTURIST
1, ... .
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The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller
The most graphic of Fuller's books (it's about his work, byRobert Marks). Consequently it is the most directly useful if youare picking up on specific projects of his such as domes, geom etry, cars, demographic maps and charts, etc.
The Dymaxion World of Buckminster FullerRobert W. Marks1960; 232 pp.
from:Sc-
Sl 0.00 postpaidIllinois University
Grand
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Space Structures
This is a big fat reference book on domes, trusses, cable nets,forms that will keep the rain out in a big way, or elegantly holdwater or electric lines up in the air. The book resulted fromthe International Conference on Space Structures held inLondon in 1966. It's said to be the first comprehensive bookbook of its kind. Very heavy book; it'll either help you ordiscourage you, depending on how far into construction youare.
We could use an informed review on this one. If we don't getit we'll drop the book.
Space StructuresR.M. Davies, ed.
1967; 1233 pp.
^4 #x l'
$46.50 postpaid
from:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
605 Third Ave.
New > rk, N.Y. 10016
or
Job v & Sons, Inc.
We stribution Center
15.' ) Redwood Road
Salt t , C:ty, Utah 8410 4
• * • • " / .
Fuller Sun Dome
The most readily available plans for a geodesic dome arethese. The $5 cost includes construction license. Built ofwood strips and cheap polyethlene skin, the dome can bebuilt up to 30 feet diameter.For more elaborate plans you should correspond withFuller's office, Box 909, Carbondale, Illinois.
[Suggested by Ken Babbs]
Geodesic Sun Dome1966
Science Monthly
igton Avenuei N.Y. 1001 7
A GfcOOESIC SUN
k * f
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8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
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ensile Structures, Volume One
The only pavilion of Expo 67 more beautiful
hat Fuller's U.S. Dome was the West
German tent, designed by Frei Otto. He is
urrently the master of structures whose
exible skin is the prime structural element.
Volume One of his 2-Volume work is devoted
o Pneumatic Structures - air houses plus.
Every designer we know who's seen this
ook has commenced to giggle and point,
mp up and down, and launch into enthusi
stic endorsement of Otto, design, being a
esigner, and look at this here
The book is comprehensive in its field, tech
he saddle surface of the inside part has a smallerrea than the outside, which is not a saddle surface.he torus differs from all other pne umaticallynsed membranes by this characteristically saddle-
haped region. The circle on which the spheresrming the torus are strung need not be in the sameane, nor need the spheres have equal diameter.ere, too, unlimited variations are possible, subject the general laws of formation, and to those particar to closed hoses.
' " "'
^ ^ ^ ^
rjiii
• '
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Membrane of heavy fabric o r wire withtransparent plastic coating.Annular foundation.
Air inlet in air-conditioning tower havingrotatable cap.Guide-vane annulus to adjust position of capHeat exchange in air-conditioning tower.In winter, the used air heats the fresh air in acounter-flow arrangement.BlowerAir baffles.
H Heating and cooling plant.I HumidifierK Ring main.L Underground distributi on line serves also to heat ground.M Warm air discharge
; ^= = » . . . ^ ; V % , J : . . = - -
Used air extraction.Pressure regulation valve.Exhaust discharge.Air lock accessible to trucks.
8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
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Dome Cookbook
Drop City, Colorado, a rural vacant lot full ofelegant funky domes and ditto people, hasbeen well photographed and poorly reportedin national magazines. Visitors and readerssimply assumed that the domes were geodesicFuller domes, which some indeed are. Butmost of them were designed by another guywho designed to another geometry: Steve Baer.
This tabloid contains the crystallographictheory and junkyard practice behind Baer'sdomes: from how to distort a polyhedronwithout affecting connector angles to how tochop the top out of a car without losing yourfoot. From all we can determine, Baer'stheory is unique in architecture. So is hispractice; instead of dying of dissertation dryrot, his notions stand around in the worldbugging the citizens.
The Dome Cookbook is published by LamaFoundation, an intentional community inNew Mexico, built largely of Baer domes.
When yo u a re putting up a dome panel by panel you
often have to use poles to support th e wobbl y sides
as they close in toward th e center. When we were
putting up the second to last panel in the shop dome
we ha d three poles in strategic spots to hold th e wobbly overhanging panels from collapsing. Th e poles
were nailed at the top so they wou ldn't fall away if
during a moment's strain t he load were lifted up and
off of them. Th e panel wa s an 8' x 19' an d extrem
ely heavy. We put it up wi th an inadequat e crew,
tw o me n and t wo women. We struggled f or an e n
tire afternoon th e last f ew inches Albert Maher
pushed from on top of a spool rest ing o n top of
th e cab of his pickup which we ha d driven into the
dome. It w as touch and go a clamp mi ght slip,
Albert might collapse, t he poles might buckle. Each
one of many failures seemed equally as probable a s
getting th e monster joined to the neighbori ng panels.A huge shove, some quick work with th e crow bar
and clamps - Albert eased off an d it stil l held, I tooka f ew more tu rns on on e c l amp an d added another
on e - it w as a sure thing, w e ha d it in place!
It felt as if th e panel ha d been lifted into place b y
some incredible wave we ha d created that now
washed back as we put down tools an d Albert got
down off the cab. Bu t there wa s one last thing t o
check - th e poles, were they dangerously bowe d
under this ne w load. Th e entire sensation in my
head began fo r a moment to turn inside ou t whenHn l lw w o l loH " I nnk at t h o r n " hi it t h a n I cauu \A/hat it
vt&Jgvk pM^m^ wettdorftti qu al it y of opaoat wa §«n aa t I tup in d i f f e r e n t s i t ** tm& sfa*p*ft 1« in f i n it e iswabara
Of Mt,f*«If w adopt a fou lly #f *n§X« re gu la r %r narol j
aztgla »l »t la r polygon* to ba used mm flo or planaof F0«»»t oity blocks, «to* otta fwtVmr propertyw$ wi ll a la oa t ©•FtAla ij want la th at th e fig ure * &§»*%*mm Hi pl ana tha n »14# by a Id a, bawa gap* app ear , daad•paeee wMoh w» ean not aeonjop wit h any of e «r flgti swe*I t i t tlksely tliat our plm wi ll not ba a dense peelin g..we oureelwea will wskm gap t bo two an th e polygon**bu t wo do n' t want th ei r' po si ti on inpeaed upon ml
f r o -La'
Be
S^Me
ndation
bal, New'564
Art wa working &t a now soeiaty* load sharingintelligently put together, mm tlai williSOWBAay raveal tha load baaring pillar* oftoday'» ATrmt&mmnt at totaly »»»a
8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
17/65
Architectural Design
This is the only architectural magazine we've
seen that consistently carries substantial new
information, as distinct from the stylistic eye
wash characteristic of most architecture jour nals. It galls my jingoistic soul to see the Bri tish publishing so much of the best techno
logical information (cf. New Scientist, p.24;Industrial Design, p.25; Sculptor's Manual,p.30; TV Production, p. 39). Dave Evans, alocal Australian whiz, says it's because English
bright guys don't have much to grip them com
mercially, so they spread their brightness
around. (Also they flock to America in search
of commercial ferocity)
Anyway, here's to more fluid information.
Architectural Design
rfSMerpostpaid
f " oneyear(monthly)fr f sbury Wayl_r .'• ; ; VC 1. Enaland
Triggered fy a ImM ef spact f ami matting '& do
smmtMi^), m group ef mckmetmrm! students at
MIT hmi year spmtmmmmiiy rebelled ogamst
tke emmtrmwmg mrnvmrnmi ef tkmt drafting
Strmmgwg mmermk* morUfig ciam-
de$timely$ they- $Mfmd bfock pamtims ami
erected m term ef mesM&mims or platforms
mitkm fjhJtr taasHtf&fay drafting maim (cmtnj,
Tkrm areMmcimn students* Stem., Hanks, ami
Owm> Jttcnif beime tJfee process m they mm it.
Tke design faculty* «l» ermmfimd far iw>«',toimi tkmr emm probkms mffre emwmtionaity,
tkrwgk mttsMe dmgmn ami comtrmtors. This
fmied m generate a mrrmpmdmg leml #/
exmiet$tmit mmmdtmtmt m mtm ef mkiewammt.
•P I o n r̂ ^• • • •I W m ' 1^ ^ ^ ^ - ••'•••••- ^ H | | ^ i f : f l f i mm
Met«; m rubber ot mpkdt ribtwti Plwiicd mmVietnam rod the prim of mmwtkd luncbup thm.W.D.Bj. Sa >J the «hir«!W«m re§«H»p«iainfer. i©» w i to m die aw t hif lwwj w » m® t }he>y« at kMtasMMM iWTiwl « n w and • ! the $me mfeeep the wbctett flying? d» gu* MI , *®4 the mindtown co w*d MM! tad, and tane-is, est, md ittte,
rash, Ot -rwiwd, gas-ap; andtowi and «r»k -. - - • •- -d watch it all.AH thepant triltlxwids. And buy we* tay « * Hoi *Jg*btttfetv 1 ft»h fN»* •lh»«s«r}4 tik»ex . -/« pkaiCfylof la bare - big high and « « « « hy-!H*c.'t'ep-up. «n *llifa w* brrwrfast « n«dc-»««fieedait.
TopicTo pate etch house to personal* iwfividnil
•ad wdl-irfapiecl to in WtoMMaft, #a«
IOC^OOO homes w i l be m diffmint from one
another as i»»oo© people tie.
AuthorChristopher Aknaiidlcrs June 1967.
PatternI F ; tteorc is given tny dwelling—tptrtment or
•h©tts% Iffcspecti'i'e df the number ef iih tM-
Haiti, (TM» pattern may ilso ipply to c«ttio
other buUdtop Mte ofic« whmk t&qmtt «a
iad mdui l and personal chancier.)THBH: every wmli* ($&tk mtemer m$4 msmm)
u to it $~$ft Smp, md modi ef kamd*mrmbk*>
spa£t~frtum, Flmrs are t& be 2-3/1 deep f and
etbo made of kand-mrtmklt~$p&£e™j"r -
IMtaitfen;Hamd
8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
18/65
Audel Guides
We've seen no series of individual technique publicat ions
more complete than the Audel books published by HowardSams and Company. However, we're not proficient enough
in this area to critique particular manuals against others in
their field. Suggestions and reviews invited.
This part of the WHOLE EARTH CATALOG should be one
All th e followi ng prices are postpaid.
Automo bile Guide (AUD-1) $6.95
Home Applia nce Service Guide (AUD-2) $6.95
Radioman s Guide (AUD-3A) $5
Television Service Manual (AUD-3B) $5
Handy Book of Practical Electricity (AUD-4) $5.95Truck an d Tractor Guide (AUD-5) $5.95
Plumbers & Steam Fitters Guide s - 4 Vols. (AUD-6)
Painting & Decorating Manual (AUD-7) $ 4.95
Carpenters an d Builders Guides - 4 Vols. AUD-8) set $16.95
Diesel Engine Manual (AUD-9) $6
Welders Guide (AUD-10) $4 .95
Mathematics an d Calculat ions for Mechani cs (AUD-11) $4.95
Machinists Library (AUD-12) $13.50 set
Wiring Diagrams for Light an d Power (AUD-13) $4
Home Refrigeration & Air Condit ioning Guide (AUD-14A) $6.95
New Electric Library 10 Vols. (AUD-15A) set $25
Answers on Blueprint Reading (AUD-25) $4.95
Masons & Builders Guides - 4 Vols. (AUD-26) set $10.50
Electric Motor Guide (AUD-27) $5.95
Oil Burner Guide (AUD-28) $3.95
Sheet Metal Pattern Layouts (AUD-29) $7.50
Sheet Metal Workers Handy Book (AUD-30) $3.95
Mechanical Drawing Guide (AUD-31) $3
Mechanical Drawing and Design (AUD-32) $3.95
Questions & Answers for Electricians Exams (AUD-34) $3.50
Electrical Power Calculations (AUD-35) $3.95
New Electric Science Dictionary (AUD-36 ) $3.50Power Plant Engineers Guide (AUD-37) $6.95
Fmmmdmtimm
I tmmmmm mm %amm O
f km §*§(§i«##«ll«f f«mi>f »l fcwm immt.
Questions & Answers for Engineers & Firemans Exams (AUD-38) $4
Pumps, Hydraulics, A ir Compre ssors (AUD-40) $6.95
House Heating Guide (AUD-41) $5.95
Millwrights & Mechani cs Guide (AUD-42) $6.95
Do-lt-Yourself Encyclopedia 2 Vols. (AUD-43) $8.95
Water Supply & Sewag e Disposal Guide (AUD-46) $4Gas Engine Manual (AUD-48) $4
Outboard Motor & Boating Guide (AUD-49) $4
Encyclopedia of Space Science - 4 Vols. (AUD-50) set $19.95
Domestic Compact Auto Repair Manual (AUD-52) $5.95
Foreign Auto Repair Manual (AUD-53) $5
Progra mmed Basic Electricity Course (AUD-54) $4
Home Workshop & Tool Handy Book (AUD-55) $5
Home Moderniz ing & Repair Guide (AUD-56) $2.95
Practical Chemistry for Everyone (AUD-57) $5.95
Home Ga s Heating an d Applia nce Manual (AUD-59) $3.50
Practical Guide t o Mechani cs (AUD-61) $4
Practical Mathematics for Everyone - 2 Vols. (AUD-66) $8.95
Architects an d Builders Guide (AUD-69) $4
Handbook of Commerci al Soun d Installations (AUD-92) $5.95
Practical Guide t o Tape Recorders (AUD-93) $4.95
Practical Guide t o Auto Radio Repair (AUD-94) $4.50
Practical Guide t o Citizens Band Radio (AUD-95) $4.95
Practical Electronics Projects f or the Beginner (AUD-96) $4.95
Practical Guide to Servicing Electric Organs (AUD-97) $4.95
Practical Guide t o Building Maintenance (AUD-99) $4.95
Practical Guide t o Fluid Power (AUD-100) $6.95
Practical Science Projects in Electricity/Electronics (AUD-102) $4.95
$H ml er*
kmWmm *f tkm §#*•» fkm §m*t h §mvmfa*t tmm mm momlm «M « h-fiih
frorTh43/
i\ & Company62nd Street
,is, Indiana 46206
fa§imUmf Tmmh
nnmw$m%
Xm MUMAAM t/Utt
f%. I, Tim mmtf • ! « immwikbmr ikmmM km *hopm4 m ifc«f fa I M M mmfwwwfitf, A §mmw4rivmt mkmm ##N# fa Hymmm *mw km mm4, fcni *•#**ki*mhlm 4®*mwm*4 ptwtmtm mm* km mmmftwd $m pmvwti tkm m*mw*
star. WM» petmUmi I M M , ikmm i* mm
twm§*®€¥ §mt tmm mmwdtfvw §m *#•«, mm mmMm* tmm mmk limNtof §mm
Alaskan mill
We've heard almost nothing about how good this 'one-mansawmill' is, but we've heard plenty of statements of need for
such an item. If you get one before we do, let us knowabout it.
The ALASKAN JR . is a lightweigh t, one- man lumbermaker. Drill3 holes in the blade an d simply mou nt on your ow n chain saw. It iseasy t o operate, and mills accurate smoot h, full dimension grade onelumber-wherever yo u need it, even in remote areas.
SIMPLY MOUNT THIS ATTACHMENT TO YOUR CHAINSAWMOTOR
no special tools or al terat ions are required. It's as s imple as changingbar an d chain. Us e with on e or tw o motors, either direct or geardrive with 6 or more horsepower. With this attach ment yo u canmake all the lumber yo u need. All perfectly dimensio ned be ams,railroad ties, cabin logs, hardwood cants, etc. Thr Alaskan is available in 6 models.
IT'S EASY
TO MAKE LUMBER WITH THE ALASKAN
HEM, IS HOW!
' " i tAttach Slat* Rail(or **"*»} to log»4}u%t f o i i t f t o}owcr "t i t le and
SAW• J a wmmr
$t* cm J
3J'? CUT ?•«« smn
as ro l lerg o M * , r a i s e ro l l e rBs%*mbly t rtwoveWTTW SLAB.
: ... f-t*i ft«
42 lbs. (other sizes available). $267.50
postpaid f or comple te Alaskan, with 9 hp Mono
power unit $419.95iOUP CUT I
'•0m •***•* •»
Alaskan, Jr. for blades 16"-24 " 20 lbs. $57.00
postpaid for comple te unit: Alaskan , Jr., bar andchain, helper handle, oiler kit , guide rail brackets, .file a nd guide, an d 7 hp Mono power unit. $333.58Complete Alaskan (minus engine) f or logs to 20"
Alaskan mill
frcKi' uprises, Alaskan Div.P. 27He Virgini a 238 60
M)mt r o l l e r toany thickness,
I t M I « » tuffibtrmy «Wt k #rt h i cleats s i s
l l ^ f i ^ J
5I§ COTTurn l4f 9## ,urn s lab r a i l
§q»ar# t * sides
8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
19/65
Village Technology
VITA (Volunteers for International Technical Assistance) isthe only source of specific practical information on small- group technology that we've found. But what a source.They have prepared a two-volume "Village Technology Hand book" for overseas use by the U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment that is ideal for rural intentional communities.This handbook now is in revision; the new edition should beavailable as of December, 1968 - inquire for price.
Also VITA has a catalog of funky tools - Village Techno logy Center Catalog - available free. For the items listed they will supply plans for making the tools, or rent or sell
the items - inquire for price.
VITA has a series of specific papers that cost very little(eg. 300). Titles include "Low-Cost Development of SmallWater-Power Sites", "How to Salt Fish", "Making BuildingBlocks with CINVA-Ram", "Solar Cooker ConstructionManual".
».- s. • f * f, t. • .•-.- ,• * :•' . ( •,- *• f •-„--• -S; ; ? mi*
The "BEEHIVE" StlliMHC, m named because of It*shapis, is unusually well adapted for use as farm
out-buildings (chicken hmsses, storage shed* and
granaries). It is cheap to build because the walls
lire only 25 est thick and come together to form the
roof. Sun-dried bricks arc suitable construction
materia I in dry areas^ stabilised earth or b«rn#d
brick plws a covering of water-proof plastor suit
be used in ateai with high rainfall,,
Building instruct ions only
Hie construction of the 'HlBKIVt" BUILDING Isaira§jle and can be done by unskilled people using
the JIG shown. The JIC it designed to swing com
pletely around while the free end serves as a
guide pole. By laying the brick* against the end
of the guide pole, the building is kept perfectly
circular and the walls are brought In to form the
"beehive" shaft. Base and fitting only; palm*must be provided locally.
lams tar: 3M - Lewrths 36" l i t , 30 lbs.
£atti patent, for which s« it ah |# d«sigosare bein g sought or d«v«lop#d fo r Inc lu sion in f i l ter* catalog supplement*?
Animal harnessTractorsSsidboard plows
Harrow*
Seed planters
Grain drills
Cultivators
Ousters
Sprayer*
threshing machinesWinnowing machinesSeed cleanerl ice hul lar and pol ishes011 teed pressFarm cartlice drying eqwipsent
Incubators
irood#rs
Peanut she H e r
fu»psDeep w e ll pwsptotary ce nt if ug al pnwtf9iaphr*g» pu«pHydraulic ranWell drilling equipmentl f«l t casing formsSawdast heatInn stove
sou*
iS Clothes wringet
II Cbinrinator
30 Start liter
31 Baby incubator
32 Baby sea las
33 gutowatic fluah toilet
34 Solar food dryer
35 Solar still
alO °$#0 %m HI* m*m r
31 Sficing apparatus
3S Concrete st titer
3f Concrete block machine
40 Coscreta block forms, wood
41 llhoalharrows4J» F l as h l i gh t p ro jec t o r••3 Photo en lar ges44 Bamboo sci en ce equipmen t45 Playground «f»i ps«» t
47 Spot wel der48 l t #ek *w i£h* i forg*49 Sheet oc ta l brake^ ?%l t f ip i' f fV W ^ * * * Is W ff i iBW
51 Kiln
52 Pottar*a what!
53 Bobbin winders
54 Spinning ami weaving equipment
yurem mmm
to pr*c -irai frr, pfor washing clothes. Sit w " aherefuel is a««ree ami sunshine la plant l f t ts.
*mmm
Fit, ii. »*Qf*RkY momctw mmm m
£mm m&*mxi
A Prmeotw t drt lsi gs dt%Ji §» seep 4rwm*&t water * salt diwence from tprtefft - 0r*gt«*t slap* MIS' greemf HasC Scfta aai c»s l« p»ip« , can #i*efi»rg» fraaljf or fee siperf to y*tiag* er ret»deftc*
UOQ0MMtEl*SCPTTIiiC 1EHCM
Cat In. K-114
EVAPORATIVEF O O D C Q O L U l
•M »tt f aam «*»
JM^It-f Sjh>#"-4̂ y"« ^mf ^». j r *_»* j ^
Cat.So. H-B3
j *: *
COOKER
Cat.No. M-?3
. j
•* ;
v,"
th is in g«»iot ia C0TT1IIC It PC i hat « vis e at oneami i n whi ch a bl oc k of wood cow Id fee bal d bypressing ©ft a foo t £r« *4 la- • le avi ng both handsf ree to op#rat * to o ls . I t is a very usef u l dev icewhich has apf l leyat ton i « t a out^s r o f s i tu at i ons .
tea of i t s ea rl ie r «•« • t ft ta for hold ing wood«ns i t ing las wfc iiei tap er i s * w i th a d raw -te l l * *
S i t e : 2©»%71w»&r ,! « • » > — , - . ., .„ .
» . i 5 l bs .
X - * ^ r
l a ware and dr y e l i sa t es , an IWIH)R*T1V1 KMJDCttnUSl w i l l extend the per iod for keepin g foodfras h and »te««rv# le f t ov er s. I t also helps toteap cr awl ing and fl yi ng i nse cts away frost food.
ftte> COO ill operates on the pr in ci pl e of ev apora*ttom of watar frow the heavy cl ot h covar which isNip t wet at al l t in ea by absor bing water frost thepan in which the coo ler stan ds.It will not work In da«p and humid areas.
Si Eei 1 7 ^ 13**57 M m, II lb*.
I t e flfk SOLAR O0OKSK Is d#si gne d to be st ur dy ,re la ti ve ly easy to »*!«,«, eaisy to rtfN ttx and low i ncos t. I t uses the pr in ci pl e of the §*«••»* 1 r e f l e c
tor which concentrates l i gh t and heat .The CX»0KfR--when used in are as ha vi i ^ iw re than20W hours of sunshine per year - - pro vid e* the heataquiva les t to 500 wat t * (which w i l l ba i l m quartof water i n 12 to 15 ai nu te s) .
Larger «od els of the CCKKM can he prov id ed.
S U # : 3 2 ' W W Wt. 24 lb*»
8/20/2019 201033163 The Whole Earth Catalog
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The Indian Tipi
Tipis are cheap and portable. To live in one
involves intimate familiarity with fire, earth,
sky, and roundness. The canvas is a shadow-
play of branches by day, people by night.
Depending on your body's attitude about
weather, a tipi as a dwelling is either a delight
or a nuisance. Whichever, you can appreciate
the elegant design of a tipi and the complete
ness of the culture that produced it.
The Laubin's book is the only one on tipis,
but it is very good. All the information you
need, technical or traditional, is here, and the
Laubins are interesting people.
Later we discovered that the idea of a ventilatingpipe underground t o the fireplace is the very bestway of insuring a clear lodge and the most heat.
It is a joy to be alive on days like this, and whenwe come back t o the tipi, after a long ride or a hike inthe mountains, the little fire is more cozy and cheerful than ever. The moon rides high in the late fallnights, and when it is full, shines right down throughthe smoke hole. Its pale white light on the tipi furnishings, added to the rosy glow o f the dying fire, isbeautiful beyond description.
IllIndians had definite rules of etiquette for life in thetipi. If the door was open, friends usually walkedright in. If the door was closed, they called out orrattled the door covering and awaited an invitationto enter. A shy person might just cough to let thoseinside know he was waiting. If two sticks werecrossed over the door, it meant that the ownerseither were away or desired no company. If theywent away, they first closed the smoke flaps bylapping or crossing them over the smoke hold. Thedoor cover was tied down securely and tw o stickswere crossed over it . The door was thus "locked,"and as safe in Indian society as the most stronglybolted door would be in our civilization today.
The Indian way of attaching peg loops, as illustrated,is not only ingenious but easy and sturdy - far betterthan either sewn or stamped grommets . Insert a pebble about 3/4 of an inch in size on the under side ofthe cover about six inches above the edge, at a seamwherever possible, and around this pebble tie a pieceof 3/15-inch cord. Double the cord, tie it in eithera square knot or a clove hitch about t he pebble, then
join th e free ends in a square know. Marbles will doif you cannot find smooth round pebbles.
Fie. }- Erttimg tbt Sioux 1 ipi
Tipis
We have word about three sources in the U.S.
of ready-made tipis, and so far Goodwin-Cole
is still the best - best construction, lowest cost.
They also have tipi liners, which you will need
if weather is wet or cold.
For the following, shipping weights are undetermined.Inquire, or have the item sent shipping cost C.O.D.
10 oz. white duck
10' diameter $55
14' diameter $6620' diameter $108
10 oz. flame treatedwhite duck
S83
$98$154
10-foot is suitable fo r nomadic couple; 14-foot forsmall family. 20 -foot for extended family or occasions. Flame-treated is unpleasant; law requires itin some places. Tipis of green, blue, orange, red oryellow drill are available. Poles are available if you'rethat lazy.
-Cole Companyimbra Blvd.lto, California 95816
The Indian TipiReginald
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