A Manual For Apprentice Gods - Kelton Halbert
How to Win Games and Influence Destiny I & II - a manual for apprentice gods
Category: Whole Systems
Publish Date: 1969
WEC Page: 20
Excerpt: "No man enters a relationship except on purpose. The question is always, 'how do I best stay alive and happy?'
The answer is eternally the same. 'No matter how hard you work to better yourself, you can't possibly be happy while the people around you are down. It's plain common sense to start out with making others happy.' Now you can relax.
HOW TO TELL UP FROM DOWN
There are 3 characteristic signs which appear when you're headed in the right direction:
There's an immediate noticeable improvement in the style of your daily existence.
You gradually assume conscious control over what happens to you.
It feels good."
SUMMARY
Out of print
Link: http://books.google.com/books/about/How_to_Win_Games_and_Influence_Destiny.html?id=HodrHQAACAAJ
Ever wanted to win at life and influence destiny? Well, if you read the Whole Earth Catalogue and considered yourself an 'apprentice god', then this was probably the book to get. This would have been appealing to the catalogue's audience just based on the catalogue's motto alone: 'we are as gods...' People wanting to master themselves and their environment would have been drawn by this book. Self empowerment with knowledge was a major theme that dominated the 1960s. Looking at the description, it is also apparent that the appeal of the book would come from the sense of communal living it implies. The 1960s was characterized by a sense of individual unity; while it sounds contradictory, the idea was that personal happiness was important, but that the community was equally important. The fact that the book states that personal happiness arises from making the people around you happy is right in line with the common thinking of the 1960s. Today, it might be less appealing. People are less interested in being a community and more interested in personal happiness on a much more selfish level. This could largely be due to the customization of our world to our individual needs. Interestingly enough, that customized world arose from the computer revolution, which was initialized in the 1960s. It is very interesting to note that the focus on community has shifted due to the increase of technology, and it seems as if the intentions for technology by the fathers of the computer revolution have been all but ignored - rather than benefitting the individual and the community, technology is often only used to benefit the individual. This is obviously not always the case, as technology has brough communities together in other ways, but the overall difference between the appeal of this book in the 1960s and the lack of appeal today is the increased focus on the individual.
While the book is no longer available and out of print, it is available through Google Books and can be found with the attached link.
Life in the Universe and The San Quentin News - Andrew Sanderson
The two things that caught my eye while looking through The Whole Earth Catalogue – Access to Tools (1970), were a subscription to The San Quentin News and ‘Intelligent Life in the Universe’. The San Quentin News is a biweekly newspaper from a prison, with news from the prison and the perspective of the prisoners on the large news stories of the day. For just $1 per year readers would be offered this unique insight into the minds of prisoners from a different angle to the usual media. This work would fit in with the liberal ideology of the Whole Earth Catalogue where the ‘little man’ was taking away from the large corporations. It also would be relevant to consider that a whole new perspective was being given – this is another aspect which would fit in with the ideology of the Whole Earth Catalogue in 1970. As a result, the key phrase from the 50 or so words used in the article was the phrase ‘need yet another perspective?’ alluding to the many sources available and also the worthiness of this one as an alternative. Nowadays, the draw would be similar but the appeal would be much more of the novelty aspect of it as a present. This is not to say that the newspaper is not serious, it is merely that the ideology has changed and the opinions of prisoners are not valued as they once were. This newspaper is actually still in circulation and is as serious as it was at the outset however the key difference now is that it is online and asks for donations more than a subscription - http://sanquentinnews.com/current-issue/
The other object that caught my attention was the collaborative work of Carl Sagan and Iosef Shklovskii – Intelligent Life in the Universe. This was a new work suggesting that there was potentially intelligent life in the universe and was written by two world renowned physicists. At the time that this came out – during the ear of the Cold War – it was huge news that a Russian and American scientist could work together. The idea of opposing forces working together for the greater good would have been the perfect metaphor for the readers of the Whole Earth Catalogue. The catalogue was founded as a part of the movement opposed to war and big corporations so the concept of scientists collaborating despite the war would go down very well amongst the readers. The concept that one of the biggest scientists in the world could offer some new insight in this field along with the captions ‘Methodically Blow your mind and ‘Impact on the biggest questions we know’ would rouse anybody at that time into reading his book. This book does still have cultural significance today as it is still a question without an answer. However many people still desire an answer and his significance in the field makes Carl Sagan the ideal person to offer this answer. In fact, the book is still on sale on amazon today for nearly $200 and straight 5 star reviews showing once and for all the desire to still possess this today.
For me, this version of the Whole Earth Catalogue is nothing like the Wikipedia we know today. In this edition of the WEC, it seemed far more like a catalogue store than a database for idea and nearly every article was trying to sell something. However the Wikipedia which everybody knows is directly a means of transmitting information without the desire to sell what it is showing.
The Causes of War and Poisoned Power - Colton Rector
I also had two things that interested me. However mine were in the Whole Earth Epilog: Access to Tools (1974). The first to catch my eye was the book The Causes of War by Geoffrey Blainey in 1973. Obviously just by reading the title of the book you know what it is going to be about, this is pretty self-explanatory, however this book explains in the preface of the first edition that the book, "is a survey of all the international wars fought since 1700" while covering both times of war and of peace. While reading just what I took pictures of in the Whole Earth Epilog: Access to Tools, I learned about how wars begin and end, that a change in any one factor may drastically alter a nation's assessment of its bargaining position, and that warfare is the most useful formula for measuring national power. In 1973 for $7.95 anyone could pick a paperback copy of this interesting book up and learn what I just learned. Now, like many other books there are multiple editions out, so now to get the latest, third edition, it would cost you around $22 for a slightly longer paperback copy. The words "war" and "peace" were thrown around a lot in the beginning chapter of this book, giving a great comparison to the reader of the differences of details between the two words. The most up to date copy of this book is the third edition published in 1988, if there were to be a fourth edition of The Causes of War by the same author I think that it would stay very similar to the previous editions with the exception of it being longer due to the new attacks and wars that we have had since 1988.
Whole Earth Catalog (Idea Items) 
http://www.openisbn.com/isbn/0029035910/
The second book that caught my eye was the book Poisoned Power by John W. Gofman and Arthur R. Tamplin, published in 1971. Gofman and Tamplin, two biophysicists who with one previous nuclear book "spell out better than anyone the appalling details of the nuclear bad idea." Before writing this book, in 1963 these two authors were asked to "undertake a series of long range studies on potential dangers that might arise from the "peaceful uses of the atom."" The book talks a lot about the Nuclear Power Plants in the U.S. and how some have failed. In the ones that failed the word "lucky" was thrown around a lot. One such plant was in Detroit and the citizens were lucky that the entire city did not have to be evacuated. The two authors of the book Poisoned Power learned from their research that "Radiation from rapidly expanding Atomic Energy programs is a far, far more serious hazard to human life than anyone had ever conceived it to be." and that "Atomic radiation will result in many times more deaths from cancer and leukemia than previously thought possible. The potential damage to future generations from genetic damage has been even more grossly underestimated". I think that in our day and time we have experienced firsthand the genetic damage from past generations being that we are the "future generations" now.
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR/PP/jacket.html#seventyoneDJ
How books reflected popular cultures attitude and views of the personal computer- Brenna McCullough
The Updated Last Whole Earth Catalog
Published: 1974
Category: Communications
Pages: Cybernetics pg 307, Human Biocomputer pg 313.
The Whole Earth Catalog offered anything and everything a person could think of. With many categories and an extensive index there was bound to be something for everyone. With this catalog anyone could buy their way to the future. It promoted many unique alternative technologies and ideas in a time when the personal computer was rising in popularity. By scanning the contents it can be seen how the personal computer was integrated into popular culture and peoples attitudes towards it.
In the communications section of the Whole Earth Catalog Norbert Wiener’s book Cybernetics can be found. In his book he proposes a theory of communication and control. To illustrate his theory he compares computers to the human nervous system and how they communicate in similar ways. He states that the inner workings of computers are modeled after and are a simpler version the human nervous system. Wiener uses biology references to explain how computers communicate with people and with each other. In a time where personal computers were the latest and greatest item popular culture wanted to know how they worked. Because popular culture did not fully understand computers and their limitations a fear of computers becoming more intelligent than humans emerged. This fear was, and still is, portrayed in many movies, books and comics. Wiener’s book responds to popular cultures concerns and explains how computers work and simultaneously soothes fears that computers could become more intelligent than us, or even become intelligent at all. He does this by comparing the computer to something we are all familiar with, our own body and explaining exactly why a computer could never become intelligent. This book was very useful in helping average citizens understand computers but in current day it would not be useful. The material would be outdated due to technology evolving so quickly.
Another book found in the communications section of the catalog was Human Biocomputer by Dr. John Lilly. He uses the computer as a model for what the human mind should be like for self-investigation. Instead of wanting the computer to work like the human mind he wants the human mind to work like a computer. By supplementing with LSD Dr. Lilly has discovered a way to free the mind of its “environmental survival chores” thus enabling the mind to self evaluate and “reprogram” itself. Theoretically, after reprogramming itself the mind would be open to new ideas and will have pushed the boundaries of what the mind is capable of. This would appeal to readers who lived in a time of drastic social change like the 1970’s. During the 70’s there were many changes, from the emergence of feminism and environmentalism to anti war protests and the civil rights movement. While most of the older generations resisted change, popular culture pushed for change and to help achieve it they encourage their followers to open their minds. Popular culture referred to this time as the hippie movement. The Human Biocomputer would appeal to hippies who were looking for ways to open their minds as a method of facilitating change.
Child Rearing, Development, and Toys
I chose to focus on child rearing, toys, and development. For this I looked at The New Whole Earth Catalog: Access to Tools, 1980.
My first item was a book titled Toilet Training in Less Than a Day. This book claimed that it had a process to toilet train a child in less than a day. It use operant conditioning to reinforce the behavior of utilizing a toilet at the appropriate times. This was accomplished by giving the child an M&M everytime he went used the toilet. One thing that struck me as significant about this method is that it is still used today. In the Child Development Center I work at they commonly used M&M’s to condition children to use the toilet while potty training. There are also many articles and books that suggest using small toys, treats, or rewards as incentives for using the toilet. This book was among many others about child development and care some of which include The Well Baby book, a book developed for parents who want to take a natural approach to their child’s health and minimize the use of pediatricians, Baby and Child Care, a book giving general advice for first-time parents about what to expect, and The Magic Years, a book that gives insight into a child’s point of view helping the parent to understand behavior and emotional development. This section of the Whole Earth Catalog demonstrated the need of parents to be able to find suitable material to develop appropriate parenting skills and techniques. It gave parents choices on how to potty train, address health concerns, and develop insight that would have previously been unattainable. This demonstrates how the Whole Earth Catalog was a stepping stone to the modern internet. In this respect it provided parents with information that would have otherwise been gained through friends, midwives, or doctors which would have narrowed the range of knowledge that the parents could have obtained. I believe situations like this were what led people to make use of the internet in the way that they did-- a need for an array of varying information for people to pan through and make their own decisions about. (Pages 540-541)
Next, I looked at toys for children. The majority of the toys were much different from what we see today. First, I looked at a book called Make Your Own Musical Instruments. This book demonstrates methods for making instruments out of everyday objects that could be found around the house (for example a flower pot or a hose.) Furthermore, the author was noted as focusing on “encouraging young people to have fun with music [and] avoid the intimidation that often turns kids off to learning an instrument.” (Pg 544) Similarly I found another book titled Making Things, which had a number of crafts and art projects for a variety of ages. (pg 545) I thought that this was markedly different from what I seem in the majority of homes today. The majority of toys are store bought and learning an instrument tends to be a very mechanical task with clear cut rights and wrongs. However, while working with children in quickly becomes evident that the home made toys are often the ones that are treasured the most by children. In my classroom I have children do a variety of crafts and I am always surprised when I go to babysit them months or even years after the craft and see that they still have the art displayed in their room, are still playing with the clay fossils we made, or continue to ask to make homemade bubbles (even though they have a bottle of Super Bubbles right beside them) while I see the store-bought toys get tossed aside days after being purchased. I have noticed that there are very few original or innovative crafts and homemade toys being created today in homes and school. However, with the use of the internet and sites like Pinterest, this hobby seems to be making a very quick comeback. The next thing I looked at was a coloring book called The Anti-Coloring Book (pg 545.) The authors of this book held the belief that “conventional coloring books lead to stereotyped artwork and destroy creativity.” The book contains open-ended prompts to guide children into creating their own original art. One example shown is “draw the worst nightmare you ever had.” I believe this follows suit with some of the ideals behind the Whole Earth Catalog of being the god of your own universe, being original, and not standardizing the human race.
Simple and Complex Advancements ---- Kelsey Brown
The Whole Earth Epilog 1974 pages 542 and 527,respectively. These issues have so much to offer that one could want and was a magnificent idea. The first thing that stuck out to my was a rather small section about magnets. This section was fairly humorous because they were suggesting very odd uses for this household magnet. Some of the so called "hundreds of house or shop uses" include: picking up hot or greasy pans, objects from underwater, to obtain hard to reach cans. Those are really interesting to me because I feel like these days that you might find a specific object for these tacks rather than a household magnets. I don't think that in 2013 magnets have very much use in the house because of the advancements and technologies available to general public. It also seems to simplify the magnet as a whole and makes it seem less scientific then it actually is and used in the scientific world. There's drastically less need for it nowadays.
The next section that I looked at was a section called hidden wastes. It talked about how during this time, with the huge increase of technology in the home, cars and refrigerator and many other things that ran on electricity were becoming more popular and sparked an increase in the use of resources. This created many wastes in landfills and was beginning the start of what we now no to be a problem. The section is particularly interesting because it's very much with us today and this section predicted that wastes would be a problem in the future. Just in the ten years they record it was already a major gain in the wastes created. In one case a place even to encourage public transportation instead of driving yourself. This of course caused overcrowding and other problems. It's interesting to see the measures that they tried to take to avoid these wastes. I'm sure they never would have imagined all the we do create these wastes now or the methods we try to prevent them as well. It's all very different from the past but still very much the same problem, just escalated.
New and Ancient Machines
I worked out of The Last Whole Earth Catalog (Published in 1972, pages 387 and 388). My first selection was the book Simple Working Models of Historic Machines and the second was the book How to Build a Working Digital Computer. I chose the first one because the image reminded me of the Turk and the second one because it seemed like a good contrast, since both books were meant to be a guide to building a machine, be it ancient or modern. The first book draws attention to the creativity of the past, reminding us that there are still many things to be learned from our ancestors. For this entry a particular machine is chosen and described from the book, The Chinese South-pointing Chariot.
This machine was used in ceremonies almost 2000 years ago. As you may notice, this machine uses a variety of parts including valves, suction pumps, wheels and gears to achieve its effect. The second book wants to encourage people to be more computer literate, “Since computers are ever more centrally with us, it behooves us to allow them as few mysteries as possible. A kid who’s built a computer out of paper clips has a healthy handle on his relationship with high technology.” The computer that will be built is essentially a calculator and again, uses a variety of parts to achieve its effect.
If I were in a store and saw these two books I would stop out of curiosity. I've had experience taking apart computers to insert more memory, and change out various parts, but never have I built my own, which could be fun and interesting. It could also be fun and interesting to build a working model of an ancient machine. We often only think of machines as a modern invention, but in reality all kinds of machines have been used for thousands of years. It is for these same reasons that I believe the people of the 1970s might be drawn to these books; curiosity and a quest for discovery. Both books are attempting to make the unattainable attainable. Many could look at completed examples of these machines and think, “That’s amazing.” But without any understanding of the machine could automatically believe that it would be impossible for them to make or understand. Depending on the person, some might even think it is akin to magic. Building your own version not only shows you with definitive proof that the machine is not supernatural in any way, but that it is much simpler than previously imagined. This kind of hands-on experience is essential to getting a society involved in progress, in the future. The more people that understand technologies and are able to better them, the more creativity and speed there will be, the quicker problems will be solved. Perhaps this is a part of the mission of the Whole Earth Catalog, to better the future by educating the people of today.
Elizabeth Wilcox
Utopia or Oblivion and Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth – Clifford Beck
Category: Whole Systems
Publish Date: 16th Edition, June 1975
Page # - 3
Being the very first page in the catalog offering items for sale, I was also interested by the name Buckminster Fuller, one I recognize from conversations about architecture and the molecular chemistry. From the list of books written by him these two stood out as being published most recently, 6 years before the Whole Earth Catalog we had. Trying to imagine why someone reading a fresh copy of the catalog would be interested, I believe the most important thing is the reputation of Buckminster Fuller as a scientist and president of Mensa.
In researching Buckminster Fuller and his works, phrases such as ‘world’, ’computer’, and ‘resources’ were commonly repeated. Fitting in with the WEC’s theme of self-sufficiency and personal improvement, Fuller sticks to works on finite resources, looking to the future, and stagnation. Both of these books are still being published today, and while they do not really have a history before their publication beyond the fact that Fuller was established as a reputable scientist they are now held as some of his key works. Far from being replaced, Utopia or Oblivion and Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth are regarded as relevant scientific works even in modern times.
With the WEC’s mission to “invent the future”, these works are very effective at addressing the resource limits of Earth, a major part of environmental engineering. Sustainability was a major issue at the time of their publication and remains a major issue of the modern era.
Basic Drug Manufacture/The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens-------------Chad Walker
Whole Earth Epilog
Category: Learning
Published: 1974
Page:738
I chose these two books because I am currently studying Microbiology and Botany for the purpose of pharmaceutical research from all natural and organic substances. The Botany book not looks at the hallucinogenic properties of plants but also looks into ethnobotanical applications of plants in the past and present. It gives a detailed break down of the hallucinogenic compounds in plants and the volume of the hallucinogenic molecules in the plant. It also shows the historical use of the plants in the societies they were in used in. I believe that this book and its content is would still be just as useful today as it was when the book was published and I also verified that it was still being revised and published all the way through 1998. I believe that the content is good for educational purposes and could help with future experiments in which these plants could be used for medicinal purposes.
The other book I looked at, for the same purpose as the Botany book, gives a detailed description of how to synthesize narcotics such as cocaine, LSD, etc. Although the book is how to book on synthesizing illegal narcotics, I believe that the processes used in the book can be a useful tool in educating people in the process of creating legal drugs or folk remedies. The processes used when the book was published may be very similar to the processes we use currently, making the book very useful to someone who may be looking to get into the pharmaceutical business.
Looking into these books, I have found that both books are still available to purchase, however “Basic Drug Manufacture” was not published past 1977 (at least from what I found) and “The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens” was still being published up to 1998. The drug manufacture book was more than likely discontinued due to the content being mostly about the creation of illicit drugs that were rapidly becoming illegal by the end of the '70s. Laws prohibiting the creation and use of these illicit drugs were being enforced more heavily by federal and local governments, which made buying or selling this book to taboo and may even get you put on watch list by law enforcement. The Botany book however, was mainly research material used in the study of plant hallucinogens and their historical use in the communities these hallucinogens were used in.
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Popper, Kuhn, and Wilson in the 1975 WEC
(A.L., breakinghistory)
“It has been powerful magick, the scientific method. Here is an authoritative much quoted investigation of its philosophical core. When Popper takes you around an abstruse corner, you can trust him to show you something interesting that you can keep and use. —SB” (p. 393, The Updated Last Whole Earth Catalog, 16th Ed., June 1975)
The above, presumably written by Whole Earth Catalog (WEC) architect Stewart Brand, accompanies an advertisement for Karl Popper’s iconic The Logic of Scientific Discovery ($3.75). The WEC in some ways seems to be the forerunner of Wikipedia---an eclectic mix of topics, a somewhat informal editing process, and designed to increase the accessibility of information---but unlike Wikipedia, the WEC was created by a relatively small band of editors. Because of this, instead of articles, the reader just got advertisements: pointers to where the real information could be found. But the views of the editors---especially Brand---were nevertheless crucial in choosing the advertisements and guiding the reader.
In asserting that the scientific method “has been powerful magick,” Brand implicitly suggests that it may no longer be so magick in the future, and promises that the reader of Popper will have light shed upon the arcane. There is more than one way to look upon this promise. Is Brand talking to scientists, so that they may become more self-aware? Or is he addressing the broader population, so that they may gain access to the obscure rituals of the scientific elite (and, perhaps, replicate their methods without going through the academic bureaucracy)? Certainly, the WEC as a whole was addressed to everyone, but that does not necessarily imply that Brand was hoping to create a new species of independent citizen-scientist.
(continued below images)
“If you want to make a scientific revolution you might be interested in how it’s done. Another well-used book. —SB” (p. 393)
Again, the intended audience for the Thomas Kuhn advertisement is ambiguous. Is Brand talking to the aspiring student or professor of science, or is he hoping to foster another kind of revolution? This suggests another interesting line of thought that might be worth pursuing someday: was Kuhn’s philosophy of scientific revolutions appropriated and mutated by the counter-culture? Revolution rhetoric certainly would have appealed to Brand.
“A practical guide for the scientific experimenter [. . .] Basic general information applicable to many fields. Extensive lists of references for further information [. . .] Reviewed by Larry McCombs.” (p. 391)
Another WEC team member, Larry McCombs, guides our eye to Edgar Bright Wilson’s “practical guide” to science. This still does not resolve the ambiguity of audience, though; Wilson’s book, as can be seen by a brief survey of amazon.com reviews, certainly now has its admirers among mainstream graduate students in science. It is still obscure, to me, exactly what future Brand was hoping to invent.
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