For most people, the pages that follow will offer new ideas, perspectives and challenges. I have endeavored to make your journey through the comprehensive, anticipatory design science Universe of Buckminster Fuller as valuable and efficient as possible with this Roadmap to Universe explanation of the logistics and quirks presented in these pages.
A Fuller View is not a normal book, and I did my best to make your journey within it as smooth and useful as possible. Because of the comprehensive nature of Bucky’s life and vision, the creation of a 270-page book that includes all the key points of his philosophy is daunting if not impossible. Reading it may be similarly intimidating, so here are some tips for your journey.
1. A Fuller View was not written to be read cover to cover from beginning to end. It was designed as an inspirational resource that could be opened anywhere and understood. Or opening to a random page might pose ideas to contemplate. Once I began adding the guest commentaries, A Fuller View became even more complex and less linear. I did my best to create a flow from quote to quote and chapter to chapter, but I chose the best content even if it did not create the best flow.
2. Although I have endeavored to organize the quotes and commentaries in a standard chapter arrangement, most of them could have been placed in several of the chapter categories. The arrangement is therefore simply another tool to support readers in navigating their way through and around Buckminster Fuller’s wisdom and reality.
3. Guest commentators were asked to pick their favorite Bucky Fuller quote. That resulted in adding some amazing insights that would otherwise never have been included. It also created a more interesting melding of ideas, some of which had not crossed my mind in a long time.
4. Many of the ideas and insights appear several times throughout this book. They may be written in a different way or you may find the exact same words. I have not counted the number of times “a world that works for everyone” or “Call me Trimtab” appear, but I know that these and other critical elements of Bucky’s grand vision appear numerous times.
Rather than ignore them as “something I already know about,” when they come up a second or third or tenth time for you, I suggest that you consider them a reminder of things that we “know we don’t know.” Or you could think of them as gifts from Universe returning to support you in waking up.
They appear because of their significance. Trimtab, more with less, ephemeralization, a you and me society, a world that works for everyone, shifting from weaponry to livingry are keys to Bucky’s work and wisdom as well as to the survival and success of humankind. Thus, it’s appropriate that these ideas appear several times.
5. In creating some type of effective efficient structure for the wisdom of Buckminster Fuller, which on the surface appears to be vast and unstructured, I found it best to “go with the flow” and realize that “change is inevitable.” Still, I did follow Bucky’s sense of respectful New England politeness, so Guest Commentaries always appear before my writing on a quote. When more than one Guest wrote on a particular Commentary, the order of the Guests is random. I did put the father John Robbins before his son Ocean as the two commentaries seemed to flow in that way, but the order of others was randomly chosen--if there is such a thing as random in Universe.
6. All the Guest Commentator’s essays are prefaced with a byline and highlighted by a gray stripe down the side. To help you distinguish where they stop and my writing starts, my writing always begins with
7. Bucky’s “56 Year Experiment” is referenced numerous times throughout this book because it is so important to his work and wisdom. In 1927, Bucky contemplated suicide but was “instructed” by a voice (inner wisdom, epiphany, guide or whatever label you choose) that he did not have the right to kill himself He then did what so many master teachers do by going into a period of voluntary silence and considering what to do next.
That “next step” for him was an experiment using himself as “Guinea Pig B.” Bucky describes it on page 124 of Critical Path when he writes:
In 1927, at the age of thirty-two, finding myself a ‘throw-away’ in the business world, I sought to use myself as my scientific ‘guinea pig’ (my most objectively considered research ‘subject’) in a lifelong experiment designed to discover what--if anything--a healthy young male human of average size, experience, and capability with an economically dependent wife and newborn child, strong without capital or any kind of wealth, cash savings, account monies, credit, or university degree, could effectively do that could not be done by great nations or great private enterprise to lastingly improve the physical protection and support of all human lives, at the same time removing undesirable restraints and improving individual initiatives of any and all humans aboard our planet Earth.”
My less detailed description of the “56 Year Experiment” is that Bucky made a lifelong commitment to determine and document what one average individual could achieve that could not be accomplished by any government, corporation, religion or other institution, no matter how rich or powerful. For me the critical aspect of his commitment was the documentation. Bucky left us an enormous archive—a genuine legacy of one man’s quest on behalf of all humankind.
In my experience, that experiment has been largely ignored for the past twenty plus years. As with any experiment, it needs to be examined to see what worked and what did not so that we can employ the insights in our lives and as a society. That is a primary aspect of A Fuller View. It’s one small step toward examining the “56 Year Experiment” and providing another doorway into applying its wisdom.
8. The previous quotation and the one about brain / mind on page xxxvi demonstrate a primary motivation for the creation of this book as well as my earlier Bucky book, Buckminster Fuller’s Universe (Basic Book 2000). Sentences that are paragraphs represent Bucky’s style of writing and speaking. Thus, when people ask me, “What would you recommend I read to learn more about Bucky?” my reply is always the same.
“You don’t read Buckminster Fuller, you study him, and I recommend that people study his writing in a group.” This is the material that makes for a deep book club. I spent every day for three months on a California beach doing just that, and I now realize that my experience would have been much more productive with the support of others. I did have the spiritual support of Bucky himself during those months in Laguna Beach, but it was not an easy process.
As the saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” A Fuller View will help you bite off and digest small pieces of the “elephant” known as Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller’s wisdom, experience and insights. I am hopeful that it will support you and all readers to enjoy the treats rather than choking on the enormity of the gifts Bucky provides.
9. All words spoken or written by Bucky (except the 55 quotes that make up the body of the book) are italicized for clarity. Hopefully, this unusual formatting will not be confusing as I also had to use standard formatting and italicize things like book titles and foreign words. Many of the Guest Commentators used italics for emphasis, and I did my best to change them to bold or some other form for clarity. That, however, was not always possible.
10. "Universe” is almost always capitalized and without the article “the” because that is the format Bucky used, and I follow in his path. His rationale is simple, and I agree. There is but a single Universe that includes everyone and everything. By capitalizing the word “Universe,” we elevate Universe to the level of humans, planets and corporations--all of which have capitalized names. By eliminating the article “the,” we no longer relegate Universe to being one of many universes in existence.
11. “Earth” is also capitalized throughout this book. The following statement that Bucky wrote as a preface for his Introduction to the 1977 book American Space Photography explains why.
“As I write the introduction to this truly fascinating book, I find its author