The Whole Earth, in its entirety
October 13, 2023 7:38 PM Subscribe
Gray Area and The Internet Archive have made the Whole Earth Catalog and its descendants newly available online through the archive of Whole Earth publications... Blog post announcing the archive from the Long Now Foundation. [CW: reported racist imagery / representation in at least one of these issues]
I've described the experience of flipping through the Whole Earth catalogs as being a bit like the internet before the internet. This is a treasure trove. AND THE TYPOGRAPHY!
I have a few print issues of various Whole Earth Publications from eBay, and I've always been struck by how relevant they still feel. I'm excited to spend some quality time with this archive.
I've described the experience of flipping through the Whole Earth catalogs as being a bit like the internet before the internet. This is a treasure trove. AND THE TYPOGRAPHY!
I have a few print issues of various Whole Earth Publications from eBay, and I've always been struck by how relevant they still feel. I'm excited to spend some quality time with this archive.
1971 edition produced in Saline Valley
About 20 minutes of super 8 shot by Stewart Brand.
posted by hortense at 8:03 PM on October 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
About 20 minutes of super 8 shot by Stewart Brand.
posted by hortense at 8:03 PM on October 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Are these are same guys that are taking 10,000 years to build a clock?
Not sure if serious, but Stewart Brand, the original WEC guy, is part of the Long Now Foundation, which is doing a bunch of other stuff. I tend to be a bit skeptical about the listed projects--it mostly seems to be composed of people who were "digerati" in the dot-com bubble era, and Brand himself was critiqued in this thread--but I like the bare concept of a clock that will still work in ten millenia.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:21 PM on October 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
Not sure if serious, but Stewart Brand, the original WEC guy, is part of the Long Now Foundation, which is doing a bunch of other stuff. I tend to be a bit skeptical about the listed projects--it mostly seems to be composed of people who were "digerati" in the dot-com bubble era, and Brand himself was critiqued in this thread--but I like the bare concept of a clock that will still work in ten millenia.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:21 PM on October 13, 2023 [4 favorites]
Good news this! My Whole Earth library is starting to yellow with age, so it's nice to know they're online. Too bad there isn't a master index of all of this content.
posted by storybored at 9:08 PM on October 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by storybored at 9:08 PM on October 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
I spent hours as a kid flipping through my older brother's copy of the 3rd Whole Earth Catalog; looking at the Owner Built Home, Homesteading, geodesic domes, photography, art, etc., etc., etc… geez. I completely forgot about this. So wonderful to see again and the promise of some new creative society that started with my passing into adulthood. It also cemented my love of books.
Thanks for this.
posted by jabo at 9:11 PM on October 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
Thanks for this.
posted by jabo at 9:11 PM on October 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
And I still haven't seen a fully digitized copy of The Kid's Future Whole Earth Catalog online anywhere.
I own a first edition copy and it's my oldest and one of my most prized possessions because it's chock full of remarkably accurate predictions as well as a lot of hilarious woo, and at this point it's just barely starting to run out of predictions left that haven't yet come true.
Predictions like using emoticons in online text conversations, or a global telecom network, or satellite communications or the masses, or handheld verbal translators, global positioning systems (pre GPS, no less), genetic engineering becoming commonplace and so many other spot on predictions.
It gets some things almost right, like the idea of a global communication system paired with a GPS-like location system as a watch-like device instead of tablet-like smartphones, but, on the other hand, smart watches with GPS and even SPOT/EPIRB satellite comms are totally a thing now.
And of course it has a lot of things that haven't (yet) come true, like private resort and residential space stations like O'Neill cylinders.
And tons of stuff that's likely never going to come true at all.
I really need to get that thing properly scanned before it falls apart or gets lost.
posted by loquacious at 10:59 PM on October 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
I own a first edition copy and it's my oldest and one of my most prized possessions because it's chock full of remarkably accurate predictions as well as a lot of hilarious woo, and at this point it's just barely starting to run out of predictions left that haven't yet come true.
Predictions like using emoticons in online text conversations, or a global telecom network, or satellite communications or the masses, or handheld verbal translators, global positioning systems (pre GPS, no less), genetic engineering becoming commonplace and so many other spot on predictions.
It gets some things almost right, like the idea of a global communication system paired with a GPS-like location system as a watch-like device instead of tablet-like smartphones, but, on the other hand, smart watches with GPS and even SPOT/EPIRB satellite comms are totally a thing now.
And of course it has a lot of things that haven't (yet) come true, like private resort and residential space stations like O'Neill cylinders.
And tons of stuff that's likely never going to come true at all.
I really need to get that thing properly scanned before it falls apart or gets lost.
posted by loquacious at 10:59 PM on October 13, 2023 [5 favorites]
Huh, something's up with this post; the first comments are over at the right, where the tags are missing. I've emailed the mods.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:40 PM on October 13, 2023
posted by Pronoiac at 11:40 PM on October 13, 2023
As a workaround, previewing a comment seems to unbork it.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:41 PM on October 13, 2023
posted by Pronoiac at 11:41 PM on October 13, 2023
Mod note: I've added a content warning per info shared by a member
posted by taz (staff) at 11:44 PM on October 13, 2023
posted by taz (staff) at 11:44 PM on October 13, 2023
It's displaying better now.
> Too bad there isn't a master index of all of this content.
This was announced today; give it time.
> And I still haven't seen a fully digitized copy of The Kid's Future Whole Earth Catalog online anywhere.
I only discovered this an hour ago thanks to a discussion elsewhere, and there's at least one other person with a copy and interest in scanning it. I'm working on getting everything together for a functional book scanner, then, dunno, figuring out the next step.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:50 PM on October 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
> Too bad there isn't a master index of all of this content.
This was announced today; give it time.
> And I still haven't seen a fully digitized copy of The Kid's Future Whole Earth Catalog online anywhere.
I only discovered this an hour ago thanks to a discussion elsewhere, and there's at least one other person with a copy and interest in scanning it. I'm working on getting everything together for a functional book scanner, then, dunno, figuring out the next step.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:50 PM on October 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nice.
Previously when I wished to quote them here on the blue, I've had to go old school and dig out the actual catalog and transcribe it.
posted by fairmettle at 12:10 AM on October 14, 2023
Previously when I wished to quote them here on the blue, I've had to go old school and dig out the actual catalog and transcribe it.
posted by fairmettle at 12:10 AM on October 14, 2023
I only discovered this an hour ago thanks to a discussion elsewhere, and there's at least one other person with a copy and interest in scanning it. I'm working on getting everything together for a functional book scanner, then, dunno, figuring out the next step.
I've been meaning to try to get my copy to a library where they have a proper book scanner for years, because its a basic paperback glued spine and not on the best paper, and while it's slimmer than most editions of the WEC it's still like 250+ pages in the same oversized format, and if I just try to scan it on a home flatbed scanner it's probably not going to like it. The cover on mine has unattached for years and isn't in the best shape.
If you get it up on Archive.org or something it's worth an FPP all on it's own because the contents are totally wild like it's an artifact of retro-futurism that actually came back from the future.
That book was really formative for me when I got it as a Christmas gift from my devoutly Mormon but total bookwwork and science-friendly grandfather way back in 1979.
It's been a real trip checking off the boxes of list of what they got right over the last 40 years.
One of the most recent items on the list is probably ticking off the pages about robotics and AI, specifically humanoid robots starting to do real work. Another recent one is the concept of remote work via media and data networks. Electric vehicles and micromobility is another.
Another fun item is the concept of green and walkable cities. There's a some really idyllic pictures that look like real places of a number of my favorite places I've ever lived or visited.
Or the concept of microfarms and intentional communities based on the early concept farms based on the real work small arcology concept test/working farms Ark I and Ark II where they're doing stuff like greenhouses, fish farms and traditional farming using closed loop and mostly passive systems so that water, energy and fertilizer inputs and outputs are routed into each other to recycle waste, clean water, store heat energy.
There's also a whole section on alternative modes of housing and planned communities, or extended chosen family structures with co-housing and co-parenting and similar topics..
Another one they talk about is green energy, especially solar, wind, tidal power and biofuels. There's pictures of things like offshore windfarms and gigantic rotor wind turbines that were mere concepts back when it was published.
There's even a couple of pages dedicated to future home entertainment complete with Syd Mead style illustrations of a home living room with huge flat panel screens and advanced, photorealistic video games, home video and nods to digital/computer/network integration, and in many ways we totally blew that one out of the water with people walking around with 4k 60FPS capable video cameras in their pockets on flagship smartphones.
Sure, there's a ton of misses or highly improbable things, some of which that are probably a good thing they haven't happened yet, like people having miniature pet rhinos created through genetic engineering.
And parts of it are - in hindsight - wildly technocratic, but that's pretty normal for Stewart Brand and the WEC project.
But pretty much every single section and page is kind of a mind blower and often like "Wooooah, we actually have that now." while other pages and sections haven't aged well at all.
It's probably the best and most interesting edition or supplement of the WEC that exists because they really went wild with the "What if...?" speculation and it wasn't limited to existing technology.
posted by loquacious at 3:52 AM on October 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've been meaning to try to get my copy to a library where they have a proper book scanner for years, because its a basic paperback glued spine and not on the best paper, and while it's slimmer than most editions of the WEC it's still like 250+ pages in the same oversized format, and if I just try to scan it on a home flatbed scanner it's probably not going to like it. The cover on mine has unattached for years and isn't in the best shape.
If you get it up on Archive.org or something it's worth an FPP all on it's own because the contents are totally wild like it's an artifact of retro-futurism that actually came back from the future.
That book was really formative for me when I got it as a Christmas gift from my devoutly Mormon but total bookwwork and science-friendly grandfather way back in 1979.
It's been a real trip checking off the boxes of list of what they got right over the last 40 years.
One of the most recent items on the list is probably ticking off the pages about robotics and AI, specifically humanoid robots starting to do real work. Another recent one is the concept of remote work via media and data networks. Electric vehicles and micromobility is another.
Another fun item is the concept of green and walkable cities. There's a some really idyllic pictures that look like real places of a number of my favorite places I've ever lived or visited.
Or the concept of microfarms and intentional communities based on the early concept farms based on the real work small arcology concept test/working farms Ark I and Ark II where they're doing stuff like greenhouses, fish farms and traditional farming using closed loop and mostly passive systems so that water, energy and fertilizer inputs and outputs are routed into each other to recycle waste, clean water, store heat energy.
There's also a whole section on alternative modes of housing and planned communities, or extended chosen family structures with co-housing and co-parenting and similar topics..
Another one they talk about is green energy, especially solar, wind, tidal power and biofuels. There's pictures of things like offshore windfarms and gigantic rotor wind turbines that were mere concepts back when it was published.
There's even a couple of pages dedicated to future home entertainment complete with Syd Mead style illustrations of a home living room with huge flat panel screens and advanced, photorealistic video games, home video and nods to digital/computer/network integration, and in many ways we totally blew that one out of the water with people walking around with 4k 60FPS capable video cameras in their pockets on flagship smartphones.
Sure, there's a ton of misses or highly improbable things, some of which that are probably a good thing they haven't happened yet, like people having miniature pet rhinos created through genetic engineering.
And parts of it are - in hindsight - wildly technocratic, but that's pretty normal for Stewart Brand and the WEC project.
But pretty much every single section and page is kind of a mind blower and often like "Wooooah, we actually have that now." while other pages and sections haven't aged well at all.
It's probably the best and most interesting edition or supplement of the WEC that exists because they really went wild with the "What if...?" speculation and it wasn't limited to existing technology.
posted by loquacious at 3:52 AM on October 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Don't forget 1988's Electronic Whole Earth Catalog - it's a 430 meg download, but it'll run in your browser!
posted by BiggerJ at 5:13 AM on October 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by BiggerJ at 5:13 AM on October 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Whole Earth Catalog influenced me in a lot of ways. As a young'un growing up in a hippy-adjacent family I would peruse the 1974 version that was floating around the house, not really understanding it, but loving the details and the artwork.
The 1994 version was actually much more influential, since it came out in my mid-twenties just as I was getting into the internet and other "alternative" culture. It was a fantastic resource for usenet groups and I bought a good number of weird things (through mail order!) from their recommended vendors.
Having said that, while I am thankful these were made available and in one place: am I overlooking some UI gizmo that allows me to look at these in higher resolution? As is, a lot of these scans are barely readable and to some, I'm sure the yellowed pages of the older ones (such as the 1974 version) are part of the "charm", but as a former pre-press technician, it kills me how easy it would have been to run a batch process to clean these up and make them substantially more readable.
posted by jeremias at 8:14 AM on October 14, 2023
The 1994 version was actually much more influential, since it came out in my mid-twenties just as I was getting into the internet and other "alternative" culture. It was a fantastic resource for usenet groups and I bought a good number of weird things (through mail order!) from their recommended vendors.
Having said that, while I am thankful these were made available and in one place: am I overlooking some UI gizmo that allows me to look at these in higher resolution? As is, a lot of these scans are barely readable and to some, I'm sure the yellowed pages of the older ones (such as the 1974 version) are part of the "charm", but as a former pre-press technician, it kills me how easy it would have been to run a batch process to clean these up and make them substantially more readable.
posted by jeremias at 8:14 AM on October 14, 2023
Mod note: I've added a content warning per info shared by a member
Really curious about what this is. Not that I doubt it at all, the Whole Earth Catalogs and even my Kid's Future Whole Earth Catalog are really, really white and lacking other representation.
While there is some casual representation of PoC in KFWEC there's definitely no section or chapter (that I remember, at least) that directly addresses anything approaching the social issues of racism.
posted by loquacious at 11:57 AM on October 14, 2023
Really curious about what this is. Not that I doubt it at all, the Whole Earth Catalogs and even my Kid's Future Whole Earth Catalog are really, really white and lacking other representation.
While there is some casual representation of PoC in KFWEC there's definitely no section or chapter (that I remember, at least) that directly addresses anything approaching the social issues of racism.
posted by loquacious at 11:57 AM on October 14, 2023
I checked, and I think the Gray Area mentioned in the blog post is indeed the venue I attended a couple of weeks ago - nifty.
> Don't forget 1988's Electronic Whole Earth Catalog - it's a 430 meg download, but it'll run in your browser!
If you'd rather download it only once, it looks like the .img file works ok in the Infinite Mac webapp. (I left notes on the Internet Archive page.)
> Having said that, while I am thankful these were made available and in one place: am I overlooking some UI gizmo that allows me to look at these in higher resolution? As is, a lot of these scans are barely readable and to some, I'm sure the yellowed pages of the older ones (such as the 1974 version) are part of the "charm", but as a former pre-press technician, it kills me how easy it would have been to run a batch process to clean these up and make them substantially more readable.
You've already seen the Internet Archive interface for it, right? I might check what Scantailor can do to clean it up. While I have run it on a thousand-page book, there are twenty times as many pages overall here. And dang, that's some small type.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2023
> Don't forget 1988's Electronic Whole Earth Catalog - it's a 430 meg download, but it'll run in your browser!
If you'd rather download it only once, it looks like the .img file works ok in the Infinite Mac webapp. (I left notes on the Internet Archive page.)
> Having said that, while I am thankful these were made available and in one place: am I overlooking some UI gizmo that allows me to look at these in higher resolution? As is, a lot of these scans are barely readable and to some, I'm sure the yellowed pages of the older ones (such as the 1974 version) are part of the "charm", but as a former pre-press technician, it kills me how easy it would have been to run a batch process to clean these up and make them substantially more readable.
You've already seen the Internet Archive interface for it, right? I might check what Scantailor can do to clean it up. While I have run it on a thousand-page book, there are twenty times as many pages overall here. And dang, that's some small type.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2023
Oh, there's something I'd seen on the Internet Archive viewer but I just spotted it on wholeearth.info: at the top right, there are icons for:
* ⊞ - view thumbnails for all pages
* ◫ - show two pages at a time
* ⌷ - show one page at a time, fit to width
For small text like this, the last one works best for me.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:30 AM on October 15, 2023
* ⊞ - view thumbnails for all pages
* ◫ - show two pages at a time
* ⌷ - show one page at a time, fit to width
For small text like this, the last one works best for me.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:30 AM on October 15, 2023
For those of you wishing for a more recent Whole Earth Catalog, Kevin Kelly put together a gorgeous book in 2013 very much in the style of the catalogs called Cool Tools. It's a best-of of his long running Cool Tools website and email newsletter. 472 pages of interesting and well reviewed tools, categorized by type of tool. Looks like used physical copies run about $10 including shipping in the US.
posted by ensign_ricky at 2:12 PM on October 15, 2023
posted by ensign_ricky at 2:12 PM on October 15, 2023
We already have hundred-year clocks, they're called trees. We already have billion-year clocks, they're called rocks. Brand did one thing right, these publications. I'm sorry he spent the next 50 years running away from them. As far as I know, he's the one that threw them in the counter-culture effluvia dumpster, no one else.
posted by Chitownfats at 4:17 PM on October 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Chitownfats at 4:17 PM on October 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
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