[Lapg] YOU TUBE Whole Earth Catalog revisited: Steve Job's Google of the 60s (+ homestead tour of a former editor)

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xrKR2YUyH8

Steve Jobs called The Whole Earth Catalog "one of the bibles of my 
generation". He went on to explain in his Stanford commencement speech 
in 2005, "It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before 
Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools 
and great notions".

The Whole Earth Catalog was a kind of "unofficial handbook of the 
counterculture". It was, pre-Internet, a way for anyone anywhere to tap 
into a global economy. Founder and editor Stewart Brand set out to 
create a catalog- like the then-very-practical-and-universal catalog 
L.L. Bean- that would showcase all of the great tools of the world to 
help anyone do things for themselves or learn about big ideas.

Lloyd Kahn was the Shelter editor of the catalog. Kahn, an insurance 
broker-turned-builder, leveraged his experience with Whole Earth and 
began to publish his own books. First, he wrote very popular books on 
dome building. Kahn had become "the spokesman for the counterculture on 
domes" (his dome home even appeared in Life Magazine), but he took the 
books out of print when he decided the building style just wasn't 
practical and "I didn't want any more domes on my kharma".

In 1974 Kahn took down his dome and replaced it with a more traditional 
handmade home. "Built stud-frame house using recycled lumber, doors, 
windows," he writes in his 2004 book Home Work, "Relief somehow to 
discover old ways can work best."

Today, Lloyd and his wife Lesley Creed run their own homestead in 
Bolinas, California where they tend an extensive organic garden and 
bantam chickens, grind their own wheat, make their own sourdough, spin 
their own wool, and continue to build their own structures (most 
recently, a chicken coop with a living roof).

Original story here: 
http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/whole-earth-catalog-revisited-steve-jobs-google-60s/

Steve Jobs called The Whole Earth Catalog “one of the bibles of my 
generation”. He went on to explain in his Stanford commencement speech 
in 2005, “It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before 
Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools 
and great notions”.

The Whole Earth Catalog was a kind of "unofficial handbook of the 
counterculture". It was, pre-Internet, a way for anyone anywhere to tap 
into a global economy.

A handbook for a global society

Subtitling it "access to tools", founder and editor Stewart Brand set 
out to create a catalog- like the then-very-practical-and-universal 
catalog L.L. Bean- that would showcase all of the great tools of the 
world to help anyone do things for themselves or learn about big ideas.

It was a very all-inclusive undertaking, but Brand believed that our 
world was unified and to prove it he lobbyied NASA to release the first 
images of earth from space, selling buttons that asked "Why haven't we 
seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?" (The catalog's first issue 
displayed that photo).

Lloyd Kahn: former shelter editor & lifelong builder

The catalog covered all worldly and practical topics, categorized as 
Land Use and Shelter, Industry, Craft, Community, Nomadics, 
Communications and Learning. Lloyd Kahn was the Shelter editor of the 
catalog.

"This book changed the course of publishing in America because before 
this book came out you couldn't publish a book on the West Coast and get 
New York distribution and by the time this had sold 100,000 copies they 
figured out that there was something going on out here."

Kahn, an insurance broker-turned-builder, leveraged his experience with 
Whole Earth and began to publish his own books.

Spokesperson for dome building

First, he wrote very popular books on dome building. Kahn had become 
"the spokesman for the counterculture on domes" (his dome home even 
appeared in Life Magazine), but he took the books out of print when he 
decided the building style just wasn't practical and "I didn't want any 
more domes on my kharma".

In 1974 Kahn took down his dome and replaced it with a more traditional 
handmade home. "Built stud-frame house using recycled lumber, doors, 
windows," he writes in his 2004 book Home Work, "Relief somehow to 
discover old ways can work best."

An owner built home and homestead

Today, Lloyd and his wife Lesley Creed run their own homestead in 
Bolinas, California where they tend an extensive organic garden and 
bantam chickens, grind their own wheat, make their own sourdough, spin 
their own wool, and continue to build their own structures (most 
recently, a chicken coop with a living roof).

While the couple have reached a certain level of self-sufficiency (and 
Lloyd has built every home he's ever lived in), gone are the goats (and 
early morning milkings) and other experiments like growing wheat.

Balancing craft/self sufficiency with convenience/modern machines

In Kahn's 1973 book Shelter he talks about the balance he seeks between 
self-sufficiency and living a modern life.

"This book is not about going off to live in a cave and growing all 
one's own food. It is not based on the idea that everyone can find an 
acre in the country, or upon a sentimental attachment to the past. It is 
rather about finding a new and necessary balance in our lives between 
what can be done by hand and what still must be done by machine."

And when in doubt, it can't hurt to try to do it yourself. "It is 
obvious that the more we can do for ourselves, the greater will our 
individual freedom and independence be."

And now... Tiny Homes: Simple Shelters

In this video Kahn shows us a rare first issue of the Whole Earth 
Catalog, takes us for a tour of his homestead (along with his wife 
Lesley) and gives us a sneak peek of his upcoming book "Tiny Homes: 
Simple Shelter".