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Brand, Stewart. - Maniaque-Benton, Caroline and Gaglio, Meredith (ed.):

Whole Earth Field Guide (on WHOLE EARTH CATALOGUE).

Kirkegaards Antikvariat
kir59370
The MIT Press, 2016. 4to in wraps as issued. 274 pages. Richly illustrated. Text in English. Very good clean copy.

The Whole Earth Catalog was started by Stewart Brand following his summer 1968 tour of communes across the Southwest with mathematician Lois Jennings. Their Dodge pickup, laden with samples of goods for sale, became known as the Whole Earth Truck Store, and Brand's first Catalog, its cover adorned with a colour photograph of the Earth seen from space, promised 'Access to Tools' and famously asserted that "We are as gods and might as well get good at it." Rather than selling anything directly, he intended it to function as both countercultural toolkit and as a manifesto for alternative lifestyles. He organised it in several sections, most of them rooted in his road trip, including Understanding Whole Systems, Shelter and Land Use, Nomadics, Communication, and Community, each category providing detailed information on how to obtain a vast array of artifacts and merchandise. Influenced by the ideas of Buckminster Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, and cyberneticists Norbert Weiner and Gregory Bateson, Brand arranged the Catalog according to the principles of systems theory, and while it embodied his vision of small-scale technology as a tool for personal liberation and social change, its contents generally eschewed overt politics in favour of do-it-yourself individualism. Brand began operating as a cultural entrepreneur at the Trips Festival, and his interdisciplinary attempt to connect distinct networks and resources in the Whole Earth Catalog used a similarly holistic approach, epitomised by the geodesic domes designed by Lloyd Kahn and others, a Catalog staple that bridged the gap between science and the counterculture. Computers were not often featured (PCs were still commercially unavailable), but Brand already envisioned them as a potentially revolutionary technology, democratising access to information and communication, and his Whole Earth Catalog, with its densely-packed references and peer-reviewed content, anticipated the hyperlinked World Wide Web that followed two decades later. he Whole Earth Catalog was a cultural touchstone of the 1960s and 1970s. The iconic cover image of the Earth viewed from space made it one of the most recognizable books on bookstore shelves. Between 1968 and 1971, almost two million copies of its various editions were sold, and not just to commune-dwellers and hippies. Millions of mainstream readers turned to the Whole Earth Catalog for practical advice and intellectual stimulation, finding everything from a review of Buckminster Fuller to recommendations for juicers. This book offers selections from eighty texts from the nearly 1,000 items of “suggested reading” in the Last Whole Earth Catalog. After an introduction that provides background information on the catalog and its founder, Stewart Brand (interesting fact: Brand got his organizational skills from a stint in the Army), the book presents the texts arranged in nine sections that echo the sections of the Whole Earth Catalog itself. Enlightening juxtapositions abound. For example, “Understanding Whole Systems” maps the holistic terrain with writings by authors from Aldo Leopold to Herbert Simon; “Land Use” features selections from Thoreau's Walden and a report from the United Nations on new energy sources; “Craft” offers excerpts from The Book of Tea and The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book; “Community” includes Margaret Mead and James Baldwin's odd-couple collaboration, A Rap on Race. Together, these texts offer a sourcebook for the Whole Earth culture of the 1960s and 1970s in all its infinite variety. [publisher's note].
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