And It Came to Pass--Not to Stay - R. Buckminster Fuller

And It Came to Pass―Not to Stay by R. Buckminster Fuller / ISBN 9783037786215 / 192-page paperback, 5 x 7.5 inches

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Lyrical meditations on life, work and hopes for the future from the beloved architect and polymath Buckminster Fuller

First published in 1976, issued in a new edition in 2008, and now back in print, And It Came to Pass―Not to Stay brings together a selection of Buckminster Fuller's (1895–1983) lyrical and philosophical best, including seven "essays" that address global crises and his predictions for the future―"to make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offence or the disadvantage of anyone." These essays, comprising "How Little I Know," "Complexion 1976," "What I Am Trying to Do," "A Definition of Evolution," "'And It Came to Pass' (Not to Stay)," "Soft Revolution" and "Ethics," pursue the task of ushering in a new era for humanity by "always starting with the universe." Each of the texts is written in Fuller's "ventilated prose," an essayistic poem form that breaks up his thinking into lines and stanzas. Though best known as a designer and design theorist, Fuller investigated and challenged assumptions about structure, function, materials, technology, aesthetics, services, distribution, mobility, communication, collaboration, information, recycling, politics, property and social norms. These essays present the great range and depth of Fuller's thought while elegantly weaving the personal, the playful, the simple and the profound.

Buckminster Fuller 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.