R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983)
Author of Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
About the Author
Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller, the innovative thinker, engineer, and inventor, was born July 12, 1895 in Milton, Massachusetts. Despite early failures and tragedies, including his being expelled from Harvard University twice and the death of his four-year-old daughter, Fuller went on to show more achieve many successes. He is best known for inventing the geodesic dome; his design has been used in structures all over the world. Besides Harvard, Fuller also attended the U.S. Naval Academy, and was a professor at Southern Illinois University. He is the author of Synergetics: Explanations in the Geometry of Thinking, a book that discusses the utopic role technology will play in the future. Critical Path is the book Fuller felt was his most important. It outlined his plan to rejuvenate earth through the use of technology. His last book, Grunch of Giants, summarizes his most important ideas. Fuller was awarded 28 United States patents and many honorary doctorates. In 1968 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member. In 1970 he received the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him on February 23, 1983 by President Ronald Reagan. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by R. Buckminster Fuller
50 Years of the Design Science Revolution and the World Game: A Collection of Articles and Papers on Design (1969) 2 copies
2 Titles By R. Buckminster Fuller: & 'Earth, Inc," & "Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity," (1971) 2 copies
Human's in Universe 1 copy
E3, Energy, earth and everyone: une stratégie énergétique globale pour le vaisseau spatial Terre… (2012) 1 copy
Synergetics Folio: A Collection of 10 Posters & an Introductory Essay by R. Buckminster Fuller 1 copy
Planetary Planning 1 copy
The artifacts of R. Buckminster Fuller : a comprehensive collection of his designs and drawings (1985) 1 copy
Designing a New Industry 1 copy
Everything I Know 1 copy
intuition 1 copy
Associated Works
Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change (1971) — Introduction, some editions — 515 copies
Non-being and somethingness: Selections from the comic strip Inside Woody Allen (1978) — Introduction, some editions — 24 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Fuller, R. Buckminster
- Legal name
- Fuller, Richard Buckminster
- Other names
- Fuller, Buckminster
- Birthdate
- 1895-07-12
- Date of death
- 1983-07-01
- Burial location
- Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Milton, Massachusetts, USA
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Places of residence
- Maine, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
North Carolina, USA
St. Louis, Missouri, USA - Education
- Milton Academy, Massachusetts, USA
Harvard University (expelled)
self-educated - Occupations
- visionary
inventor
systems theorist
architect - Relationships
- Fuller, Arthur Buckminster (grandfather)
Fuller, Margaret (great-aunt)
Sadao, Shoji (colleague) - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters ( [1963])
Buckminster Fuller Institute
Mensa International (2nd pres.)
United States Navy (WWI) - Awards and honors
- American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1983)
Humanist of the Year (1969) - Short biography
- Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983)was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.
Fuller published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetic. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres.
Buckminster Fuller was the second president of Mensa from 1974 to 1983.
~Wikipedia
Members
Reviews
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R. Buckmister Fuller
Oh, if only we had listened to Fuller. We wouldn't be in such a mess now.
This may have been cool in its day, but it comes across today as noisey, over-designed and confusing.
This book is snippets of quotes and images laid out in a "clever" design that you have to read front to back and back to front.
I think the design is a reflection of the times, the confused sixties and seventies when technology and social change were changing faster than society could keep up. Today, I think the layout just adds noise to the message.
Also, there is not much of R. Buckminster Fuller even though he is listed as the primary author.
Perhaps in context I would understand more of the humor and irony of this book, but today it is more of a curious artifact of the time when it was published.… (more)
This book is snippets of quotes and images laid out in a "clever" design that you have to read front to back and back to front.
I think the design is a reflection of the times, the confused sixties and seventies when technology and social change were changing faster than society could keep up. Today, I think the layout just adds noise to the message.
Also, there is not much of R. Buckminster Fuller even though he is listed as the primary author.
Perhaps in context I would understand more of the humor and irony of this book, but today it is more of a curious artifact of the time when it was published.… (more)
Five stars for what this book is, a short explanation of the philosophy of technical optimism of R. Buckminster Fuller.
However, Fuller writes in a dense style that is sometimes hard to read.
By the way, this is not an operating manual at all, it focuses more on concepts rather than tactics. Spoiler alert - the key is that we work together and stop creating false differences between people (nations, rich and poor, races).
However, Fuller writes in a dense style that is sometimes hard to read.
By the way, this is not an operating manual at all, it focuses more on concepts rather than tactics. Spoiler alert - the key is that we work together and stop creating false differences between people (nations, rich and poor, races).
A quirky thrift store find that regularly sells for $200 a various booksellers. Nice copy, in tight condition, the title page says it all "The Most Important fact about Spaceship earth: An Instruction book didn't come with it."
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Statistics
- Works
- 67
- Also by
- 7
- Members
- 3,931
- Popularity
- #6,434
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 33
- ISBNs
- 106
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 19
