Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium [Paperback]

Thomas T. K. Zung (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2002

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Great minds most certainly do not all think alike. Case in point: R. Buckminster Fuller, who revolutionized Western thinking and design, even though only a tiny fraction of his ideas were ever developed. Outrageously, most of his works are out of print here at the turn of the century, so his collaborator and architectural partner, Thomas T.K. Zung, organized the publication of Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium. Collected are 20 selections from Fuller's books, each introduced by notable thinkers and writers like Steve Forbes and Arthur C. Clarke. Though Fuller's distinctive style--part engineering text, part poetry--takes a bit of extra attention to penetrate, the rewards are tremendous. Though now clichéd, his concept of Spaceship Earth ("only eight thousand miles in diameter, which is almost a negligible dimension in the great vastness of space") blew more minds than the Beatles' "White Album." Zung's selections are juicy and enticing--few readers will be able to resist a trip to the library after reading morsels of Utopia or Oblivion and Epic Poem on the History of Industrialization. The introductions range from scholarly to personal, and close in on Fuller's work and personality without ever quite reaching them-they, of course, are best revealed in his writing and his still-mimicked work. Those new to this thinker will find the anthology breathtaking, while those in the know will discover much that is new, including his amazing $10 telegram version of the theory of relativity. It's hard to overestimate Fuller's importance to 20th- and 21st-century thought, despite his self-description in his last book: "I am now close to 88 and I am confident that the only thing important about me is that I am an average healthy human." If only he knew. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In 1927 R. Buckminster Fuller stood on the shore of Lake Michigan contemplating suicide. Suddenly he asked himself, "Could I use myself as a scientific `guinea pig'... on behalf of all humanity?" Fuller decided at that moment to "make the world work for one hundred percent of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." From this auspicious beginning, Fuller quickly rose to fame as one of the 20th century's most brilliant inventors, architects and "poets of technology." Believing that "mankind has the capability through proper planning and use of natural resources to forever house himself," he devised the geodesic dome--a model of which now looms over Disney's Epcot Center--an architectural wonder designed to conserve both space and energy. Fuller's foresight that advances in transportation and communication would make the world a smaller place culturally led him to famously describe the global village as "Spaceship Earth." He also introduced the world to the now commonplace idea of synergy. In order to acquaint a new generation with Fuller, his former architectural partner, Zung, gathers selections from 20 of Fuller's 23 writings on topics ranging from education and environment to engineering and the Lord's Prayer. Admirers of Fuller--such as actress Valerie Harper, author Arthur C. Clarke and entrepreneur Steve Forbes--introduce each selection. Zung's anthology traces the development of Fuller's intellectual life and provides an excellent introduction for a new generation to the life and work of this brilliant thinker. 51 b&w illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (March 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312288905
• ISBN-13: 978-0312288907
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #603,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential wisdom if we are to prosper in the 21st Century, March 13, 2001

By 

Steven G. Brant "social systems scientist" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium (Hardcover)

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!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars still ahead, still the best, September 25, 2002

By 

Paul Siemering (cambridge, ma United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium (Hardcover)

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!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An opportunity to appreciate Bucky Fuller's contribution., January 6, 2002

By 

Lloyd Sieden "Bucky disciple" (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium (Hardcover)

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.