The Essential Whole Earth Catalog

Whole Earth Catalog

by Stewart Brand (Editor)

Lists useful books, magazines, and products related to science, land use, architecture, health care, economics, travel, crafts, parenting, communication, and education

Genres: Reference, Science, Nonfiction, Literature, Technology

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 1986

About the author

Stewart Brand was a pioneer in the environmental movement in the 60s – his Whole Earth Catalog became the Bible for sustainable living, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. Brand is President of The Long Now Foundation and chairs the foundation's Seminars About Long-term Thinking.

Reviews

[Leo Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember when I first stumbled upon these books. They led to many sleepless nights, with my homework piled on my desk, untouched. And they drew me in, had me buying weird books. Books on artificial intelligence, like "Godel, Escher, Bach." And books on architectural design like "A Pattern Language." And books on systems theory, communication theory, fractal geometry and radically simple economics -- like "Small is Beautiful."

More than even college, the Whole Earth Catalogs cracked open my mind. And made me aware of systems theory. And made me aware that hippies weren't just people with long hair who smoked dope. Instead, they were people with a vision. It was a vision that the front covers, photos of the earth from spaced, captured. We are one planet, set in space. And we humans are all in this together.

Stewart Brand said it best in his famous introductory statement. "We are as the gods. So we may as well get good at it." And, while born way too late to be a hippy, I know one thing: These books altered the course of my life -- I was trending towards a career as a lawyer -- to a desire to write. Not for fame or fortune. but because it seemed more interesting to do than living in a cube, clawing my way to the corner office.

And that's something. Especially in Reagan's "Alex P. Keaton" campuses of the '80's. And made me a hippy. With short hair. Who never wore tie-die...

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to rate a book that's essentially perfect. Gobsmacking value for the money.

[Richard Kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting throwback to how one might discover things in the pre-internet age. Many of it's book recommendations are still valuable, though a lot are either out of print or out of date.