  "The 'Whole Earth' in the title refers to planetary perspective, not to the range of our coverage. Some day maybe, but I hope not--the world might gain by seeing itself whole, but it should forever elude coverage by anybody" Stewart Brand, Introduction to ESSENTIAL WHOLE EARTH CATALOG "Access to tools and Ideas" In the closing remarks of his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford, (widely replayed on the news after his death: link below), Steve Jobs talked about how much he had been influenced by The Whole Earth Catalogue first published by Stewart Brand in 1968. The subtitle of Brand's Catalogue was "access to tools". It was both an outcome-of and call-to-action for the back-to the-land movement but with urban tools. By "tools", Brand largely meant things like shovels, axes and wheelbarrows, but also the latest technology, from one-man milling machines to computers to communications equipment: anything that might help one live off the land..."The prevalence of satellite dishes on the countryside suggests that urbanity has less and less to do with clusters of tall buildings and ever more to do with global perspectives" Stewart Brand. The Whole Earth Catalogue was the how-to manual of those days; the bible of a generation was the way Jobs put it. It was a practical, hands-on, up-close-and-personal handbook for living sustainably. Visionary techno-artist Stewart Brand is the founder and publisher of the Whole Earth Catalogs and we honor his legacy in our EARTH DAY 2013 "PORTRAIT EARTH" celebrations. Welcome to RELATED LINKS: |
