Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium

By R. Buckminster Fuller

Book Overview

Buckminster Fuller, inventor, thinker and architect, was one of the best known Americans of the twentieth century. Often compared to Leonardo da Vinci and called "the planet's friendly genius," he was the inventor of the geodesic dome, the man who coined the term "spaceship earth," and an educator without parallel. Yet, most of his books are out of print today. To remedy this situation, his longtime friend and architectural partner, Thomas Zung, has compiled a Bucky Fuller reader. This anthology consists of chapters selected from twenty of Bucky's many books, each with a new Introduction by such notables as Arthur C. Clarke, Steve Forbes, Calvin Tomkins, Dr. Martin Meyerson, Sir Harold W. Kroto, Arthur L. Loeb, E. J. Applewhite, and others. Altogether, this book provides an overview of a remarkable intellectual career and the best possible introduction to the man and his thought. Bucky Fuller was one of the most original thinkers and builders that America has ever produced, and this book makes his work available to a new generation at the beginning of a new millennium.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312288905
• ISBN13: 9780312288907
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.2" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

in my top ten books of all time

I saw the theatrical one man stage play of Buckminster Fuller and moved. The book here is a collection of essays written by one Buckminster Fuller who, as a man of his times, really stretched his abilities and perhaps made some leaps that were so far ahead of his time he was unable to enjoy the full rewards of his labor. The last chapter of the book rounds out a large swath of Fullers knowledge and highlights his ability to paint with very large strokes in just several pages.

still ahead, still the best

During most of his life in the last century, one of the things most often said about Bucky was that he is a man "ahead of his time". Well it was true then and it is much more true today. Because since he left us (sort of) the world has been steadily regressing, until now we are involved in war without end. Fuller was famous for many things, synergetics, Dymaxion car and house, really famous for geodesic domes. But his enduring message, and what the world needs desperately to hear now, is the idea of "making the world work for 100% of humanity". By which he meant using the worlds resources to serve the basic needs of everyone on the planet. He taught us that there are no shortages, that there is enough to go around, and all we need to do this is the will to do it. In the world game he would explain how much it would cost for everyone to have enough- food, shelter, clean water, health care- even eliminate land mines and soil erosion and deforestation. He calculated the total cost for all this and more as about 30% of the world's military expenditures. Bucky believes we are all world citizens, all fellow pasengers on spaceship earth. And that we need to learn to be together, to be just one people, and stop having wars and wasting the earths riches on weapons.Utopian? of course it's utopian. It is also perfectly sensible and reasonable and intelligent . And human. It is, it must be, the way we should be, the world we should make, for all of us.This beautiful book is full of his teachings and the enthusiastic tributes of his friends and students. Just buy it.And stop the bombing!

An opportunity to appreciate Bucky Fuller's contribution.

Anyone who makes Bucky Fuller's wisdom more available to the humankind for which he cared so deeply provides an enormous service. This anthology does that with gleanings of Fuller's writings as well as anecdotes from those whose life he touched. Unfortunately, it does little to explain in easily understood language what Bucky learned and attempted to teach and demonstrate.The personal stories sandwiched in between excerpts from Bucky's writings do begin to provide insight into Bucky being what he claimed was most important about him - that he was an average healthy human. Throughout his life and work, he proved that the "little individual" can make an enormous difference. Unfortunately, that message often becomes lost in discussions of inventions, science, mathematics and engineering.Bucky was and is, more than anything, a modern mystic. I feel that the most important writing contained in this book supports this. In her article, Barbara Marx Hubbard recounts that shortly prior to his passing he told her the truth of his famous 1927 mystic experience in which he decided to devote himself to the welfare of all humankind rather than commit suicide.She writes that he told her that the voice that spoke to him actually said, "Bucky, you are to be a first mini-Christ on Earth. What you attest to is true." And that is how I feel Bucky lived during the next fifty-six years of his life. There is much to learn from the events of those fifty-six years.I have been studying them and applying them to my life for nearly twenty years, and I find that Bucky did speak and live the truth. His wisdom helped me to write "Buckminster Fuller's Universe" and to recently create (a web site) in order to support others in going beyond his geodesic dome and other inventions and gaining access to Fuller's mystic wisdom.This book is yet another artifact to help us all in our journey. Do not let Bucky's convoluted language dissuade your pursuit of his wisdom. Use this book and any others you may discover to help claim the legacy that he left us all.

Will the 21st Century Be the Century of Buckminster Fuller?

This is an excellent anthology of the writings of Bucky Fuller, some of which are hard to get, with introductions by individuals ranging from Arthur C. Clark to Valerie Harper. A Renaissance man--Fuller was an inventor, scientist, architect, poet, philosopher--Fuller may be the person whose hope, vision, and genius may propel this new century to ever greater heights!

Essential wisdom if we are to prosper in the 21st Century

I urge everyone reading this review to not only buy this book but also to tell their friends to do so as well. In our post-Cold War, interdependent world we need to learn what Bucky had the foresight to be talking about - years and years ago. Namely, that prosperity in the future will depend on humans learning to cooperate with - rather than compete against - their fellow human beings. We are all passengers on the same spaceship. With the Cold War over, we have the technology - and the political opportunity - to create a world of "all winners and no losers." What's needed -as Einstein liked to point out - is "new thinking" to bring this about. Bucky's systems-based thinking is what Einstein was referring to. Reading this book is like attending a black tie dinner for Buckminster Fuller. On a wide-range of subjects, a wonderfully diverse list of people reflect on how Bucky influenced their lives. Each person is introduced by the editor, who acts like the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. And each person's talk is followed by an excerpt from one of Bucky's writings. I think this is great approach to presenting Bucky, because potential readers should be able to relate to at least one of the speakers and topics mentioned. (Bucky was interested and involved in so many things that the book covers a lot of different subjects.) I hope it will wet people's appetites to want to read more. And, not just to read, but also to want to talk about these ideas and how to get them into common use. Some support for that is available, in fact, from the Buckminster Fuller Institute ...So, buy this book and have it be the beginning of your journey (if you're new to Bucky) or have it spark you to renewed levels of action. Adopting a systems-based view of the world is the only way Globalization will ever work!