Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was an architect engineer geometrician cartographer
philosopher futurist inventor of the famous geodesic dome and one of the most brilliant
thinkers of his time. For more than five decades he set forth his comprehensive perspective on
the world's problems in numerous essays which offer an illuminating insight into the
intellectual universe of this renaissance man. These texts remain surprisingly topical even
today decades after their initial publication. While Fuller wrote the works in the 1960's and
1970's they could not be more timely: like desperately needed time-capsules of wisdom for the
critical moment he foresaw and in which we find ourselves. Long out of print they are now
being published again together with commentary by Jaime Snyder the grandson of Buckminster
Fuller. Designed for a new generation of readers Snyder prepared these editions with
supplementary material providing background on the texts factual updates and interpretation
of his visionary ideas. Initially published in 1969 and one of Fuller's most popular works
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth is a brilliant synthesis of his world view. In this very
accessible volume Fuller investigates the great challenges facing humanity and the principles
for avoiding extinction and exercising our option to make it. How will humanity survive? How
does automation influence individualization? How can we utilize our resources more effectively
to realize our potential to end poverty in this generation? He questions the concept of
specialization calls for a design revolution of innovation and offers advice on how to guide
spaceship earth toward a sustainable future. And it Came to Pass - Not to Stay brings together
Buckminster Fuller's lyrical and philosophical best including seven essays in a form he called
his ventilated prose and as always addressing the current global crisis and his predictions
for the future. These essays including How Little I Know What I am Trying to Do Soft
Revolution and Ethics put the task of ushering in a new era of humanity in the context of
always starting with the universe. In rare form Fuller elegantly weaves the personal the
playful the simple and the profound. Utopia or Oblivion is a provocative blueprint for the
future. This comprehensive volume is composed of essays derived from the lectures he gave all
over the world during the 1960's. Fuller's thesis is that humanity - for the first time in its
history - has the opportunity to create a world where the needs of 100% of humanity are met.
This is Fuller in his prime relaying his urgent message for earthians' critical moment and
presenting pioneering solutions which reflect his commitment to the potential of innovative
design to create technology that does more with less and thereby improves human lives. This is
what man tends to call utopia. It's a fairly small word but inadequate to describe the
extraordinary new freedom of man in a new relationship to universe - the alternative of which
is oblivion. Buckminster Fuller.
