Dymaxion Reading Group

— Former Project, Not Currently Active —

The Dymaxion Reading group is an online forum for participants to gather and discuss books by, on, or related to Buckminster Fuller. Each discussion is facilitated by notable experts from BFI’s extended network.

Follow us on facebook or sign up for our newsletter to get updates on the next text we’ll be reading and discussing. In the meantime, listen to past sessions directly on our website or download the mp3s below to listen to on your commute.

CRITICAL PATH:

Critical Path is R. Buckminster Fuller’s masterwork – the summing up of a lifetime’s thought and concern – as urgent and relevant today as it was upon its initial publication. Critical Path details how humanity found itself in its current situation – at the limit of the planet’s resource and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises. Fuller’s analysis has been proven correct in many areas since it was first propounded and the options he presents for the very survival of mankind remain as compelling as ever. Critical Path provides an understanding of the essential dilemmas of our time and shows how each individual can respond effectively to the unprecedented threats of the modern landscape. It is an essential text for any student of humanity.

WITH: Greg Watson — former member of the Buckminster Fuller Institute Board of Directors and current Director of Policy and Systems Design at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics led two online sessions discussing the text. Panelists included: Linda Booth Sweeney,
Elizabeth Thompson, Kurt Przybilla, and Jaime Snyder.

Session 1: Making the Invisible Visible
Friday October 30th, 2015 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM ET

Download the mp3.

Session 2: Socioeconomic Precession
Tuesday January 19th, 2016 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM ET

Download the mp3.

Read this information packet that includes excerpts from the “Critical Path”.

OPERATING MANUAL FOR SPACESHIP EARTH:

Initially published in 1969, and one of Buckminster Fuller’s most popular works, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth is a brilliant synthesis of his world view and a great introduction to his ideas. In this volume, Fuller investigates the great challenges facing humanity, and the principles for avoiding extinction and “exercising our option to make it.” How will humanity survive? How does automation influence individualization? How can we utilize our resources more effectively to realize our potential to end poverty in this generation? He questions the concept of specialization, calls for a design revolution of innovation, and offers advice on how to guide “spaceship earth” toward a sustainable future.

WITH: Sessions include an introduction by Jaime Snyder, series Editor of the Lars Muller Edition’s republications of Fuller’s books. Jaime Snyder is an educator, writer, filmmaker and singer-songwriter; he was co-Founder of the Buckminster Fuller Institute and as Fuller’s grandson, studied and worked with him until his passing in 1983. Facilitated by Pablo Freund, former Managing Director of BFI and Co-Founder of Be-Girl. Respondents from BFI network include Greg Watson, Kurt Przybilla and Linda Booth Sweeney.

Session 1: Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
Tuesday July 7th, 2015 | 6:00 – 7:30 PM ET