Comments About Buckminster Fuller and Buckminster Fuller's Universe
 |
"Fuller is brought down to earth in the absorbing biographical study Buckminster Fuller’s Universe. Sieden succeeds in demonstrating how Fuller's search for Nature's underlying rules of harmony and efficiency is relevant to fields ranging from aviation and manufacturing technology to environmentalism, housing, parapsychology and extraterrestrial anthropology."
Publishers Weekly |
"Buckminster Fuller was a great man. Everybody concerned about the planet should read Buckminster Fuller’s Universe. It fully illustrates that a great man walked among us."
Larry King
Larry King
"Buckminster Fuller's genius and vision are more relevant than ever before. Bucky's whole systems view is crucial to the future of humanity and the planet, and L. Steven Sieden brings his wisdom to life in Buckminster Fuller's Universe. Anyone concerned about the future needs to be aware of what Bucky discovered during his lifetime and this book provides a thorough exposition of Bucky's principles and philosophy."
Michael Toms - Co-founder & CEO, New Dimensions Radio
Michael Toms - Co-founder & CEO, New Dimensions Radio
"How do you capture a multi-faceted man who had as many angles as his Geodesic Dome? Seek no farther; L. Steven Sieden has done it. He has created a well-painted portrait of a genius."
Richard D. Lamm
Former Governor of Colorado & Director, Institute for Public Policy Studies, University of Denver
Richard D. Lamm
Former Governor of Colorado & Director, Institute for Public Policy Studies, University of Denver
"Buckminster Fuller's Universe is a vivid, personal and revealing work which brings Fuller home to us all. The Design Science Revolution which he called for is now at its time of greatest social relevance. Bucky's legacy is needed now. This book is a real contribution to our collective purpose of a social agenda for the next century."
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Author, Futurist, Founder - Foundation for Conscious Evolution
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Author, Futurist, Founder - Foundation for Conscious Evolution
"To have known Bucky and witnessed his disciplined dedication to humanity through engineering was an inspirational treat in my life. L. Steven Sieden's interpretations of Fuller's creative genius should greatly enhance public acknowledgement of the intellectual wisdom of this diminutive giant. I predict Bucky's ideas will permeate new architectural opportunities in the coming age of space."
Dr. Buzz Aldrin
Author, Speaker & Astronaut
Dr. Buzz Aldrin
Author, Speaker & Astronaut
"In Buckminster Fuller's Universe, L. Steven Sieden provides a lucid, insightful, and significant exploration of the man behind the public figure. Buckminster Fuller, designer/philosopher extraordinary, was one of the first to take a comprehensive look at using the world's resources efficiently for the benefit of all humanity. Now Sieden probes beyond Fuller's famous inventions to offer a unique psychological perspective on the roots of his successes and failures."
Amory B. Lovins
Author, Speaker & Chairman - Rocky Mountain Institute
Amory B. Lovins
Author, Speaker & Chairman - Rocky Mountain Institute
"Buckminster Fuller's Universe is a very necessary and useful book. It relates the development of Fuller's ideas, which could initiate intelligent global action without politics, to the events of his life. The book is not written in Fuller's language. It is written in yours. You will understand it."
John Cage
Musician
John Cage
Musician
"Buckminster Fuller's life stands as a brilliant model for those who would strive to be original thinkers. Bucky showed us that imagination is the key to the future. L. Steven Sieden's biography is a tribute to a great man."
Marilyn Ferguson
Author
Marilyn Ferguson
Author
Comments About Buckminster Fuller Excerpted from A Fuller View
The following are short experts written by "Guest Commentators" in the forthcoming book "A Fuller View" in which Steven Sieden and 42 Guest Commentators explain and further elucidate Bucky Fuller's ideas as he expressed them in specific quotations such as "I seem to be a verb." or "Dare to be naive." These passages were selected because they share insights into Fuller as a man and the way that he thought and operated.
 |
"I met Bucky numerous times over the final years of his life. His visionary capacities and “beginner’s mind” made every territory that he entered new, and new for those who were fortunate enough to be with him. He had a curious way of tilting his head when observing or listening, as though he wanted to see things from a totally different perspective. He was a failure gone right, a loser who found truth, a nonconformist who brought new forms into being.
He was also dedicated to ending suffering in this world, as someone who had suffered loss and humiliation through much of his early life." Roshi Joan Halifax |
" Bucky refused to be limited by the conventional wisdom that there is nothing one little individual can do to make a big difference. This notion led to a resignation that became a frame for living for many people.
Yet Bucky came to see that in fact each person lives for others. He saw and spoke that the individual, any individual, has the power to take a stand, and live from the stand that who they are and what they do can make a difference, and that by doing so they become a trimtab literally capable of turning the ship of life."
Werner Erhard
Yet Bucky came to see that in fact each person lives for others. He saw and spoke that the individual, any individual, has the power to take a stand, and live from the stand that who they are and what they do can make a difference, and that by doing so they become a trimtab literally capable of turning the ship of life."
Werner Erhard
"In the summer of 1981, I was part of a group that organized A Week with Buckminster Fuller at Kirkwood Meadows in the Lake Tahoe area. .... Bucky captivated us throughout the week, every statement prompting a 'what did he just say?'… we listened intently, we learned, we marveled, we contemplated.
His closing at the end of the week was even more meaningful and inspiring. Bucky was sitting on the stage surrounded by his artifacts and models … slowly he picked one up, took it apart, and put it in his suitcase. Then a pause … and another thought he wanted us to remember. Another pause … and he packed another model … then another comment. One after another he packed a model, paused, and shared a thought … and we all took in every word. Finally Bucky had packed up all his models. He stood, picked up his suitcase, and walked off the stage and out the door.
We all sat in silence contemplating his words, reflecting on Buckminster Fuller. There had been no applause (Bucky didn’t want any). If we had applauded, it would have changed the environment, and we would have given our power over to Bucky. In the silence we had to be responsible for all the learning … it was ours now. Bucky created the environment and gave it to us--it was now up to us to learn from it and make change in the world. This was one of the most profound moments in my life."
Bobbi DePorter
His closing at the end of the week was even more meaningful and inspiring. Bucky was sitting on the stage surrounded by his artifacts and models … slowly he picked one up, took it apart, and put it in his suitcase. Then a pause … and another thought he wanted us to remember. Another pause … and he packed another model … then another comment. One after another he packed a model, paused, and shared a thought … and we all took in every word. Finally Bucky had packed up all his models. He stood, picked up his suitcase, and walked off the stage and out the door.
We all sat in silence contemplating his words, reflecting on Buckminster Fuller. There had been no applause (Bucky didn’t want any). If we had applauded, it would have changed the environment, and we would have given our power over to Bucky. In the silence we had to be responsible for all the learning … it was ours now. Bucky created the environment and gave it to us--it was now up to us to learn from it and make change in the world. This was one of the most profound moments in my life."
Bobbi DePorter
"Bucky’s life was dedicated to the service of humanity. As an iconoclast, he challenged assumptions that many take for granted. One area that he was highly critical of was mainstream education, where the emphasis is often on rote learning rather than creative problem solving. He once noted: 'All children are born geniuses. 999 out of every 1,000 are swiftly and inadvertently degeniused by adults.'
As a visionary and social reformer, he argued that there is a growing need for the development of skills and competencies that will allow students to successfully meet the challenges of our changing world. In addition to enhancing their academic performance, Bucky felt strongly that students need to master new skills that will prepare them for their place in the evolving universe."
Marilyn Schlitz
As a visionary and social reformer, he argued that there is a growing need for the development of skills and competencies that will allow students to successfully meet the challenges of our changing world. In addition to enhancing their academic performance, Bucky felt strongly that students need to master new skills that will prepare them for their place in the evolving universe."
Marilyn Schlitz
Bucky was called the Grandfather of the Future. He was one of my teachers in the latter part of his life. He was such a beautiful being, I just wanted to be around him.
I was a volunteer usher in 1976 for one of the 80 “integrity talks” he gave around the world upon turning 80. Bucky always stood behind a table with models that explained his theory about the construction of the Universe. I didn’t understand any of what he said. AND I remember everything else about that moment, a moment of absolute clarity.
In a talk about the intellectual integrity of the Universe, he stepped out from behind the table and said, 'Now I’m going to say the most important thing I have ever said or ever will say.”' I thought, 'I am going to understand this!’ So I tuned my antennae and sat on the edge of my seat.
Bucky said that humanity had recently passed a very critical threshold. When he said “recently”, he meant sometime during the last 50 or 100 years. He then went on to say this threshold changes everything. The threshold is this: humanity is now on a path of doing so much more with so much less, which is at the heart of human innovation and creativity. And we now clearly live in a world where there is enough for everyone, everywhere to have a healthy and productive life. We now live in a world of sufficient resources, a world of “enough”.
Bucky said this means we have moved from a ‘you OR me world’ (because there’s not enough for both of us--the mindset of scarcity), to the possibility of a ‘you AND me world’, where we both can make it at no one’s expense. That new possibility changes everything. He speculated that perhaps it has always been that way, and it’s clearly true now.
In that moment I started crying and had an epiphany, a revelation that was almost more than I could handle. I don’t know if I understood the words he said at that time, but I totally 'got it.'"
Lynne Twist
I was a volunteer usher in 1976 for one of the 80 “integrity talks” he gave around the world upon turning 80. Bucky always stood behind a table with models that explained his theory about the construction of the Universe. I didn’t understand any of what he said. AND I remember everything else about that moment, a moment of absolute clarity.
In a talk about the intellectual integrity of the Universe, he stepped out from behind the table and said, 'Now I’m going to say the most important thing I have ever said or ever will say.”' I thought, 'I am going to understand this!’ So I tuned my antennae and sat on the edge of my seat.
Bucky said that humanity had recently passed a very critical threshold. When he said “recently”, he meant sometime during the last 50 or 100 years. He then went on to say this threshold changes everything. The threshold is this: humanity is now on a path of doing so much more with so much less, which is at the heart of human innovation and creativity. And we now clearly live in a world where there is enough for everyone, everywhere to have a healthy and productive life. We now live in a world of sufficient resources, a world of “enough”.
Bucky said this means we have moved from a ‘you OR me world’ (because there’s not enough for both of us--the mindset of scarcity), to the possibility of a ‘you AND me world’, where we both can make it at no one’s expense. That new possibility changes everything. He speculated that perhaps it has always been that way, and it’s clearly true now.
In that moment I started crying and had an epiphany, a revelation that was almost more than I could handle. I don’t know if I understood the words he said at that time, but I totally 'got it.'"
Lynne Twist
"Whenever Bucky began a conversation with a new acquaintance, or even a group of people, he'd have to set the context from which all else would flow. This would include the entire history of civilization, and could take several hours or even several days. … His ideas and hope for humanity and his confidence that each of us is a trimtab for good lives on."
Justine Willis Toms
Justine Willis Toms
"I am standing in Fuller’s hotel lobby, when he gets off the elevator. I recognize him immediately and go up and introduce myself. He has a low flattop haircut, and is wearing a bluish green spectacularly unfashionable suit of some hard finish cloth. … His glasses are broken and he has taped them back together. He has hearing aids. I am surprised at how near-sighted he is. It doesn’t show up in many of the pictures. His astigmatism is clearly much worse than my own. It distorts his eyes slightly but this does nothing to filter out a kind of intense curiosity he projects whenever he focuses on me, or anything else.
Despite the differences in our age and status, there is no awkwardness between us. He is available and engaged, asking questions and commenting. After speaking with him for a few moments I have the sense he is incredibly competent, and understand that he looks at the world in a way unfamiliar to me."
Stephan Schwartz
Despite the differences in our age and status, there is no awkwardness between us. He is available and engaged, asking questions and commenting. After speaking with him for a few moments I have the sense he is incredibly competent, and understand that he looks at the world in a way unfamiliar to me."
Stephan Schwartz
I knew Bucky. And I treasured greatly the times I enjoyed with him. In many ways the father of the discipline we now call sustainability, R. Buckminster Fuller envisioned a world that works for 100% of humanity. We now know that achieving this goal is not only possible and preferable--it is the only way to avoid catastrophe.
In our recent book, Climate Capitalism, my co-author Dr, Boyd Cohen and I describe how entrepreneurs, communities and companies are prospering by using resources more efficiently, by wholly redesigning how they make and deliver products and services, and by managing their institutions to be restorative of human and natural capital, the forms of capital that Bucky recognized as underpinning all life and thus all economic systems. Bucky understood the urgency of transforming our economy to do this.
I remember sitting with him in the Denver airport waiting for a plane that would bear us to one of John Denver’s periodic gatherings of change agents. Bucky spread his Dymaxion map on our knees, pointing to the Himalaya, and remarking (in 1981) that climate change would melt the glaciers. “They water 40% of the people on Earth,” he observed, making the prescient point that we simply must avert climate change.
We are inventing the future. It’s just not the one that any of us want. It’s time, again, to return to Bucky’s wisdom in Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.
Bucky was fond of saying, “If the success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do...How would I be? What would I do?”
Hunter Lovins
In our recent book, Climate Capitalism, my co-author Dr, Boyd Cohen and I describe how entrepreneurs, communities and companies are prospering by using resources more efficiently, by wholly redesigning how they make and deliver products and services, and by managing their institutions to be restorative of human and natural capital, the forms of capital that Bucky recognized as underpinning all life and thus all economic systems. Bucky understood the urgency of transforming our economy to do this.
I remember sitting with him in the Denver airport waiting for a plane that would bear us to one of John Denver’s periodic gatherings of change agents. Bucky spread his Dymaxion map on our knees, pointing to the Himalaya, and remarking (in 1981) that climate change would melt the glaciers. “They water 40% of the people on Earth,” he observed, making the prescient point that we simply must avert climate change.
We are inventing the future. It’s just not the one that any of us want. It’s time, again, to return to Bucky’s wisdom in Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.
Bucky was fond of saying, “If the success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do...How would I be? What would I do?”
Hunter Lovins