COSMIC FISHING: An Account of Writing Synergetics with Buckminster Fuller

by Edgar J. Applewhite ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 25, 1977

An ex-CIA bigwig, Applewhite seems an unlikely person to have collaborated with Buckminster Fuller on Synergetics, that magnum opus that appeared in 1975 to explicate Bucky's Energetic-Synergetic Geometry. But since spying is a work for the curious, who must, at the very least, pretend to be at ease in territory not their own, perhaps he was the ideal choice. Firmly linear, he kept Fuller's omnidirectional thinking sufficiently focused to produce a book that the inventor of the geodesic dome long wanted to see in print. Bucky's way of thinking--of drawing ideas seemingly out of sheer space--he calls ""cosmic fishing."" He wrote in Applewhite's copy of Synergetics, ""To: Sonny, my cosmic fishing partner who always lets me sit down aft in the fishing seat to have all the fun of catching and playing the fish while he handles the boat, standing at the wheel and engine controls, letting me think he is enjoying it all as much as I do!"" At a guess, Applewhite did, and it makes his book bright and easy, although not very important except to the sort of people who save the fingernail parings of saints. To be fair, though, Applewhite presents a very human portrait of his mentor. This book about the writing of a book doesn't go far to clarify Fuller's difficult ideas, but it does verify the law of diminishing returns.

Pub Date: April 25, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION