Inventor of the Future
The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
One of Esquire's 50 Best Biographies of All Time * One of The Economist's Best Books of 2022 * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Nominated for The Next Big Idea Club * The Week Magazine Book of the Week
From Alec Nevala-Lee, the author of the Hugo and Locus Award finalist Astounding, comes a revelatory biography of the visionary designer who defined the rules of startup culture and shaped America’s idea of the future.
During his lifetime, Buckminster Fuller was hailed as one of the greatest geniuses of the twentieth century. As the architectural designer and futurist best known for the geodesic dome, he enthralled a vast popular audience, inspired devotion from both the counterculture and the establishment, and was praised as a modern Leonardo da Vinci. To his admirers, he exemplified what one man could accomplish by approaching urgent design problems using a radically unconventional set of strategies, which he based on a mystical conception of the universe’s geometry. His views on sustainability, as embodied in the image of Spaceship Earth, convinced him that it was possible to provide for all humanity through the efficient use of planetary resources. From Epcot Center to the molecule named in his honor as the buckyball, Fuller’s legacy endures to this day, and his belief in the transformative potential of technology profoundly influenced the founders of Silicon Valley.
Inventor of the Future is the first authoritative biography to cover all aspects of Fuller’s career. Drawing on meticulous research, dozens of interviews, and thousands of unpublished documents, Nevala-Lee has produced a riveting portrait that transcends the myth of Fuller as an otherworldly generalist. It reconstructs the true origins of his most famous inventions, including the Dymaxion Car, the Wichita House, and the dome itself; his fraught relationships with his students and collaborators; his interactions with Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi, Clare Boothe Luce, John Cage, Steve Jobs, and many others; and his tumultuous private life, in which his determination to succeed on his own terms came at an immense personal cost. In an era of accelerating change, Fuller’s example remains enormously relevant, and his lessons for designers, activists, and innovators are as powerful and essential as ever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist Nevala-Lee (Astounding) offers a cogent assessment of futurist Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), "a man who had been revered by both the counterculture and the establishment" in this solid biography. Nevala-Lee traces Fuller's rise from being an uninspiring student at Milton Academy to the visionary who revolutionized—with differing levels of success—the design of things as varied as bathrooms and sports stadiums. Out of a childhood trip to Chicago a "lasting interest in industry" was born, and despite below-average grades, Fuller was admitted to Harvard, where he had a rocky experience and never finished. The death of his daughter in 1922 marked a turning point in his life, Nevala-Lee writes, and led to his "encounter many of his lifelong obsessions for the first time." The author does a great job exploring the mythology that surrounded Fuller, as well as his creations (such as the architectural geodesic dome) and his anticipating such modern developments as the internet. The many celebrities, artists, politicians, and innovators Fuller crossed paths with make for rich fodder, too (he was friends with Hollywood director John Huston, and Albert Einstein allegedly told him at a party, "Young man, you amaze me"). The result is a fascinating portrait of a larger-than-life figure.
