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Critical Path
R. Buckminster Fuller is regarded as one of the most important figures of the 20th century, renowned for his achievements as an inventor, designer, architect, philosopher, mathematician, and dogged individualist. Perhaps best remembered for the Geodesic Dome and the term "Spaceship Earth," his work and his writings have had a profound impact on modern life and thought.
Critical Path is Fuller's master work--the summing up of a lifetime's thought and concern--as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. Critical Path details how humanity found itself in its current situation--at the limits of the planet's natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises.
The crowning achievement of an extraordinary career, Critical Path offers the reader the excitement of understanding the essential dilemmas of our time and how responsible citizens can rise to meet this ultimate challenge to our future.
Critical Path is Fuller's master work--the summing up of a lifetime's thought and concern--as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. Critical Path details how humanity found itself in its current situation--at the limits of the planet's natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises.
The crowning achievement of an extraordinary career, Critical Path offers the reader the excitement of understanding the essential dilemmas of our time and how responsible citizens can rise to meet this ultimate challenge to our future.
471 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1981
218 people are currently reading
5114 people want to read
About the author
R. Buckminster Fuller
142 books775 followersRichard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, and inventor.
Fuller published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetic. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their structural and mathematical resemblance to geodesic spheres.
Buckminster Fuller was the second president of Mensa from 1974 to 1983.
Fuller published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetic. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their structural and mathematical resemblance to geodesic spheres.
Buckminster Fuller was the second president of Mensa from 1974 to 1983.
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February 10, 2017
The title of Buckminster Fuller's classic late-life book Critical Path is inspired by the Apollo Project. Bucky estimated that in order for Apollo 11 to successfully launch, land on the moon, and return to Earth, the engineers had to follow a "critical path" of approximately 2,000,000 tasks that had to be completed in correct sequence. Bucky felt that humanity has its own "critical path" program that must be followed to avoid war, and to create a peaceful and sustainable existence on Spaceship Earth.
I'm a huge Bucky Fuller fan, and feel that Critical Path is probably his capstone, career-summing book.
However, it is far from a perfect book.
Let's do a "pros and cons" analysis of Critical Path:
Pros
• Bucky does a good job of making himself accessible to a wide audience. The sentences are short and readable. Anyone who complains about "indecipherable" writing has clearly not tried reading his unforgiving tome Synergetics.
• At age 85, Bucky seems to know he is near the end of his life. He does his best to summarise his life's achievements, and to leave a blueprint for future generations to follow.
• Bucky is an imaginative thinker, regularly adding his deft reversals of conventional logic ("wind doesn't blow, it sucks"; advocating that "upstairs" and "downstairs" be replaced with the more planet-centrically accurate "outstairs" and "instairs")
• It is inspiring to read Chapter 4, where Bucky personally reflects on his decision to transform his life as a 33 year old. Instead of suicide, he decided to eschew traditional employment, and focus on improving the well-being of all of humanity. His in an inspirational story, and it is great to read his deliberately-planned work methods.
Cons:
• Quite simply, there is a lot of good material in the book. But it really needed an editor. For example, Bucky includes verbatim a 30-page report to the Brazilian government about how to industrialise their economy. It is unclear what relevance this 1943 (mid-World War II) report had to readers in 1981. In 2015, this section had almost zero resonance with me.
• After an inspiring 'introduction' section, Bucky's first chapter is quite embarrassing. It is titled "Speculative Prehistory of Humanity", and indeed there is an abundance of speculation included.
• For example, Bucky claims that humans were teleported to Earth from a galactic headquarters. And that instead of humans evolving from primates, the other primates de-evolved from us. Bucky even claims that porpoises and whales evolved from Polynesians with large lungs.
• Many Bucky-fans seem to gloss-over these wild theories by simply not mentioning them; I think it is important to hold your heroes to account.
• Quite simply, Bucky's claims about evolution are in contraction to all known evidence, and his flimsy "arguments" are easily demolished. Luckily they are not central to his main arguments about technology and innovation.
• Bucky gets very carried away by his futuristic visions of a high-tech society. Chapter 8, in particular has aged badly in the 30+ years since it was written. Bucky claims that we should close all schools, and that children given free access to TV and computers. Given these tools, the kids will spontaneously choose to educate themselves to standards unachievable through human teachers. Bucky also describes the lives of leisure we will live in an automated world with few necessary "jobs". I wonder if Bucky imagined all the necessary new jobs that would be created by such a transformation to a leisure-culture (e.g. chefs, waiters, delivery drivers, etc). Anyway, it hasn't happened.
In summary, I really like Buckminster Fuller, and I like Critical Path. But I rate it overall as a 3.5 star mixed-bag.
My recommendation is to dip your toe in the water with books about Bucky, before reading his own books. My recommended starting-point is Buckminster Fuller's Universe: An Appreciation (1989), which remains the best book I have read about Bucky. If you like that one, read New Views on R. Buckminster Fuller , and then snake your way towards Critical Path.
I'm a huge Bucky Fuller fan, and feel that Critical Path is probably his capstone, career-summing book.
However, it is far from a perfect book.
Let's do a "pros and cons" analysis of Critical Path:
Pros
• Bucky does a good job of making himself accessible to a wide audience. The sentences are short and readable. Anyone who complains about "indecipherable" writing has clearly not tried reading his unforgiving tome Synergetics.
• At age 85, Bucky seems to know he is near the end of his life. He does his best to summarise his life's achievements, and to leave a blueprint for future generations to follow.
• Bucky is an imaginative thinker, regularly adding his deft reversals of conventional logic ("wind doesn't blow, it sucks"; advocating that "upstairs" and "downstairs" be replaced with the more planet-centrically accurate "outstairs" and "instairs")
• It is inspiring to read Chapter 4, where Bucky personally reflects on his decision to transform his life as a 33 year old. Instead of suicide, he decided to eschew traditional employment, and focus on improving the well-being of all of humanity. His in an inspirational story, and it is great to read his deliberately-planned work methods.
Cons:
• Quite simply, there is a lot of good material in the book. But it really needed an editor. For example, Bucky includes verbatim a 30-page report to the Brazilian government about how to industrialise their economy. It is unclear what relevance this 1943 (mid-World War II) report had to readers in 1981. In 2015, this section had almost zero resonance with me.
• After an inspiring 'introduction' section, Bucky's first chapter is quite embarrassing. It is titled "Speculative Prehistory of Humanity", and indeed there is an abundance of speculation included.
• For example, Bucky claims that humans were teleported to Earth from a galactic headquarters. And that instead of humans evolving from primates, the other primates de-evolved from us. Bucky even claims that porpoises and whales evolved from Polynesians with large lungs.
• Many Bucky-fans seem to gloss-over these wild theories by simply not mentioning them; I think it is important to hold your heroes to account.
• Quite simply, Bucky's claims about evolution are in contraction to all known evidence, and his flimsy "arguments" are easily demolished. Luckily they are not central to his main arguments about technology and innovation.
• Bucky gets very carried away by his futuristic visions of a high-tech society. Chapter 8, in particular has aged badly in the 30+ years since it was written. Bucky claims that we should close all schools, and that children given free access to TV and computers. Given these tools, the kids will spontaneously choose to educate themselves to standards unachievable through human teachers. Bucky also describes the lives of leisure we will live in an automated world with few necessary "jobs". I wonder if Bucky imagined all the necessary new jobs that would be created by such a transformation to a leisure-culture (e.g. chefs, waiters, delivery drivers, etc). Anyway, it hasn't happened.
In summary, I really like Buckminster Fuller, and I like Critical Path. But I rate it overall as a 3.5 star mixed-bag.
My recommendation is to dip your toe in the water with books about Bucky, before reading his own books. My recommended starting-point is Buckminster Fuller's Universe: An Appreciation (1989), which remains the best book I have read about Bucky. If you like that one, read New Views on R. Buckminster Fuller , and then snake your way towards Critical Path.
March 22, 2014
Oh Buckminster. You are a character. This has got to be one of the densest, most made-up-word-filled, self-aggrandizing, and brilliant books I have ever read. Instead of trying to summarize the approximately 3-bajillion things Fuller talks about, it's better if I just describe his unique perspective. Born in like 1895, he dropped out of Harvard (before it was cool) and basically devoted his life to trying to make things better for humanity through a "design-engineering revolution". His central thesis was that starting in the mid-twentieth century, we started to be able to do more with less - more information transfer with less cabling, bigger planes that weighed less, etc. Taking this to it's logical extreme, Fuller claims that we live on a planet of 4 billion billionaires (written in the 70's/80's) - they just don't know it yet. This leads to all sorts of radical economic and political ideas on Fuller's part. As a really smart technical dude who was born before cars, airplanes, televisions, dishwashers, refrigerators, atomic power, space travel, etc. - Fuller saw the birth of modernity and his technical perspective often leads him to radically different views about the economic history of the 20th century than you'd find in the standard textbooks.
But you have to be careful with Fuller. I'd say about 90% of what he says is techno-utopian madness, but 10% is really great. He's also a self-promotional troll to a hilarious degree, check his "Timeline of Important World Events" in the appendix and note "1899: RBF enters kindergarten, makes octet truss"
For all it's flaws though - this is a great read. I wish there were more books like this.
But you have to be careful with Fuller. I'd say about 90% of what he says is techno-utopian madness, but 10% is really great. He's also a self-promotional troll to a hilarious degree, check his "Timeline of Important World Events" in the appendix and note "1899: RBF enters kindergarten, makes octet truss"
For all it's flaws though - this is a great read. I wish there were more books like this.
July 3, 2025
Reading R. Buckminster Fuller as a young man revolutionized the way I thought about the world. His innovative, outsider way of thinking and approaching the world with fresh eyes unbeholden to consensus thought, established practice, and even common sense greatly appealed to me. You couldn’t really call him an iconoclast, because he was less interested it tearing down consensus ideas and approaches than he was in creating his own. If his ideas eventually replaced the others, that was wholly secondary to him. He created, not just his inventions, but his ideas, almost as an experiment in eventually bettering the world. He was unconcerned with whether or not people accepted them in his time, so long as he put them out there and had them on the record. He called it the Design Revolution. His approach resonated with the young man I then was.
Critical Path was Buckminster Fuller’s summation of his life’s work. Written in his eighties, and published just a year before his death, he attempted to use it to revisit the entirety of his largely varied but thematically related contributions. This cast a wide net, as he variously worked as an architect, a systems theorist, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. The result of this attempt is decidedly mixed, by also fascinating.
In Critical Path you will find Fuller discussing the revolutionary designs he created — the geodesic dome, the dymaxiom map, and more. He goes into personal biography, explaining how traumatic events and failures moved him from an unsuccessful life working for his own enrichment to a successful one attempting to better the world for everyone. His most dramatic (and to me most appealing) philosophical ideas are here as well. He advocates for Generalist over Specialist, complete with his explanation of how specialization is used to control and limit knowledge, and thus used to control and dominate populations. Also here is Fuller’s assertion that, in the real world, there is an abundance rather than a scarcity of resources, and that it simply takes design innovations and a prioritization to fairly distribute this abundance. Fuller centers the idea of Universal Basic Income, firmly based in his calculations that implementing it eventually will make greater economic sense than the present system. Fuller ties all of these ideas together into an overarching theory of how to revolutionize our world for the better on what he calls “Spaceship Earth.”
Rereading Critical Path now, well over three decades since I originally read it, I was more aware of the excesses and flaws of Fuller’s always outside the box approach to everything. This was largely evident in his chapters of speculative pre-history, where he challenged most of our received wisdom, including where human life started, the beginnings of the Bronze Age, and the extent of pre-historic and early history world navigation. He tells a fascinating and most convincing story about it all (which wowed me when I read it in my twenties) but with the sober reflection of a much older man, it is now clearly evident that he conjured most of these ideas with little to no solid evidence, and was largely unconcerned about evidentiary problems. He weaves a hypnotically convincing tale, but for me the spell was broken when he came to the bit about how sea mammals like porpoises and dolphins evolved from humans. When you read something like that, you realize that sometimes radical, outsider thinking can lead you into truly bonkers territory.
Critical Path also has some structural issues. As a summation of a life’s work, it seemed put together rather scatter-shot and randomly, without a noticeable narrative arch to tie it together. It is often repetitive, and badly in need of editing, particularly in long passages he includes from other sources. Despite these problems, this may be the most accessible of Fuller’s books, certainly more approachable than his nearly indecipherable Synergetics, or his more experimental collage book I Seem To Be A Verb.
You probably should have some prior knowledge of Buckminster Fuller before you read this book. I would encourage you to research him if you are not familiar already, and to eventually read Critical Path. Buckminster Fuller was the most fascinating, and arguably, the most important outsider thinker of the 20th century, and despite this book’s flaws and excesses, it is a valuable document.
Critical Path was Buckminster Fuller’s summation of his life’s work. Written in his eighties, and published just a year before his death, he attempted to use it to revisit the entirety of his largely varied but thematically related contributions. This cast a wide net, as he variously worked as an architect, a systems theorist, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. The result of this attempt is decidedly mixed, by also fascinating.
In Critical Path you will find Fuller discussing the revolutionary designs he created — the geodesic dome, the dymaxiom map, and more. He goes into personal biography, explaining how traumatic events and failures moved him from an unsuccessful life working for his own enrichment to a successful one attempting to better the world for everyone. His most dramatic (and to me most appealing) philosophical ideas are here as well. He advocates for Generalist over Specialist, complete with his explanation of how specialization is used to control and limit knowledge, and thus used to control and dominate populations. Also here is Fuller’s assertion that, in the real world, there is an abundance rather than a scarcity of resources, and that it simply takes design innovations and a prioritization to fairly distribute this abundance. Fuller centers the idea of Universal Basic Income, firmly based in his calculations that implementing it eventually will make greater economic sense than the present system. Fuller ties all of these ideas together into an overarching theory of how to revolutionize our world for the better on what he calls “Spaceship Earth.”
Rereading Critical Path now, well over three decades since I originally read it, I was more aware of the excesses and flaws of Fuller’s always outside the box approach to everything. This was largely evident in his chapters of speculative pre-history, where he challenged most of our received wisdom, including where human life started, the beginnings of the Bronze Age, and the extent of pre-historic and early history world navigation. He tells a fascinating and most convincing story about it all (which wowed me when I read it in my twenties) but with the sober reflection of a much older man, it is now clearly evident that he conjured most of these ideas with little to no solid evidence, and was largely unconcerned about evidentiary problems. He weaves a hypnotically convincing tale, but for me the spell was broken when he came to the bit about how sea mammals like porpoises and dolphins evolved from humans. When you read something like that, you realize that sometimes radical, outsider thinking can lead you into truly bonkers territory.
Critical Path also has some structural issues. As a summation of a life’s work, it seemed put together rather scatter-shot and randomly, without a noticeable narrative arch to tie it together. It is often repetitive, and badly in need of editing, particularly in long passages he includes from other sources. Despite these problems, this may be the most accessible of Fuller’s books, certainly more approachable than his nearly indecipherable Synergetics, or his more experimental collage book I Seem To Be A Verb.
You probably should have some prior knowledge of Buckminster Fuller before you read this book. I would encourage you to research him if you are not familiar already, and to eventually read Critical Path. Buckminster Fuller was the most fascinating, and arguably, the most important outsider thinker of the 20th century, and despite this book’s flaws and excesses, it is a valuable document.
January 19, 2008
R. Buckminster Fuller published this, his last major work, in 1981. This book provides a general overview of his life, and collects together his writings about a number of projects that helped bring his work to prominence, including his geodesic domes, his World Game exercises, as well as covering various aspects of world history and social organization and development. Written in a unique voice that is sometimes difficult to follow, this book is worth it just for insight into his biggest and most important project of all: turning his life towards the betterment of all humans on spaceship earth. At times naive and perhaps a bit dated, there is an honest and humanitarian vision in here that makes it important reading for earthlings.
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December 27, 2021This book is foundational reading if you're interested in Fuller's work, but be prepared that it's highly unedited and reads like a brilliant 80 year old uncle got high and just pontificated on all his musings on techno utopianism, theories of change for social justice movements, and random things from world history as well as his own personal life.
Besides his sometimes endearing and sometimes thought provoking future musings (can’t stop thinking about the floating cities!), my biggest takeaway from reading this is being inspired to be bolder in envisioning how design that incorporates equitable distribution in resources and right relationship with nature could happen. And, to then be more strategic in thinking out what the “critical path” is to get there and what my part in that is. This is something that highly resonates with me in this particular stage of my political development in which I’m more interested in looking forward and building rather than acting from a reactionary stance. Part of what makes Fuller so iconic is his willingness to dream, even at the risk of sounding wack-a-doo at times. May I learn to have the dream and vision of this white man toward the end of his life!
All that being said, I have no idea how to rate this book.
Besides his sometimes endearing and sometimes thought provoking future musings (can’t stop thinking about the floating cities!), my biggest takeaway from reading this is being inspired to be bolder in envisioning how design that incorporates equitable distribution in resources and right relationship with nature could happen. And, to then be more strategic in thinking out what the “critical path” is to get there and what my part in that is. This is something that highly resonates with me in this particular stage of my political development in which I’m more interested in looking forward and building rather than acting from a reactionary stance. Part of what makes Fuller so iconic is his willingness to dream, even at the risk of sounding wack-a-doo at times. May I learn to have the dream and vision of this white man toward the end of his life!
All that being said, I have no idea how to rate this book.
September 14, 2020
After 20 years, I finally managed to finish this book. It's a difficult book to stick with and in it Bucky truly presented some unique and original ideas on the history of civilization, wealth, government and ecology and he was definitely well ahead of his time. I wonder what he would think of the past 30 years since this book was written if he were still around with the recent economic meltdown, the rise of a limited free market China, the demise of the Soviet Union, and the explosion of extremism and terrorism. Those accelaerated changes of the past three decades weren't on anyone including Fuller's radar in 1980. All in all, if you can get through it, Critical Path presents many fascinating theories on how mankind has socially and economically evolved and what is necessary ultimately for survival on spacehip Earth.
March 13, 2009
This book was a seminal experience in forming my thinking, and making me the person I am...(to those who know me well, read it anyway, LOL.)
Fuller has such a unique and original way of looking at things, that it blows the dust right out of your brain. All kinds of assumptions that you didn't even know you'd made get completely exposed, and replaced by real reasoning. He invites you to make up your own completely refreshed mind, and look at things without the blinkers on. In my opinion, that is better than any amount of schooling and therapy. I make a point of rereading it every now and again, as a form of consciousness maintenance.
Fuller has such a unique and original way of looking at things, that it blows the dust right out of your brain. All kinds of assumptions that you didn't even know you'd made get completely exposed, and replaced by real reasoning. He invites you to make up your own completely refreshed mind, and look at things without the blinkers on. In my opinion, that is better than any amount of schooling and therapy. I make a point of rereading it every now and again, as a form of consciousness maintenance.
June 24, 2015
This was my first encounter with the renowned R. Buckminster Fuller, and during the course of the book, with its odd abstract coinages and grand schemes, I frequently found myself debating the man's sanity. Sometimes he appears to be raving like a mad man, other times he is blindingly brilliant. I emerged with the belief that RBF was indeed sane, an archetypal genius engineer in the tradition of Archimedes and Da Vinci, and an inspiring, visionary character to boot. He was an odd duck, sure, but not a quack.
RBF implicitly warns you in the beginning of Critical Path that he's a little different. He thanks his friend e.e. cummings for reminding him that to "be nobody-but-yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight." To his credit, RBF committed fully to discovering his original self and offering it wholly to the world. This actualization of individual potential should be what education facilitates for everyone; this should be what a human life is all about, and in this sense, Fuller's life is a model human life.
While the content of Critical Path is not always compelling or even accessible, the reader always senses the presence of a grand, visionary mind grappling with the biggest human questions: Who are we? Why are we here? What should we do? RBF is admirably committed to serving humanity on a global scale and solving our significant social, political, economic, and environmental crises.
He demonstrates that, contrary to popular opinion, we can all thrive. He exposes how selfishness and scarcity-thinking contribute to a massively inefficient economy and how, by conceiving of the world as one, we can easily provide for all humanity and take care of the environment. He proposes a logical organization of all world resources with a method he calls the "world game"--using a computer to keep records and make intelligent, need-based allocations. He calls for the elimination of nations in favor of a single government that operates in the interests of the entire planet. In a nutshell, Fuller devised detailed plans for making the planet work for all humanity.
It was inspiring to read how bold, independent imagination, when taken seriously, can transform the world. Fuller's inventions traveled far. Yet, it's tragic to recognize that, while Fuller and others like him have the vision and techniques to create an Earthly paradise, the power elite lack the will.
We still have a long way to go.
RBF implicitly warns you in the beginning of Critical Path that he's a little different. He thanks his friend e.e. cummings for reminding him that to "be nobody-but-yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight." To his credit, RBF committed fully to discovering his original self and offering it wholly to the world. This actualization of individual potential should be what education facilitates for everyone; this should be what a human life is all about, and in this sense, Fuller's life is a model human life.
While the content of Critical Path is not always compelling or even accessible, the reader always senses the presence of a grand, visionary mind grappling with the biggest human questions: Who are we? Why are we here? What should we do? RBF is admirably committed to serving humanity on a global scale and solving our significant social, political, economic, and environmental crises.
He demonstrates that, contrary to popular opinion, we can all thrive. He exposes how selfishness and scarcity-thinking contribute to a massively inefficient economy and how, by conceiving of the world as one, we can easily provide for all humanity and take care of the environment. He proposes a logical organization of all world resources with a method he calls the "world game"--using a computer to keep records and make intelligent, need-based allocations. He calls for the elimination of nations in favor of a single government that operates in the interests of the entire planet. In a nutshell, Fuller devised detailed plans for making the planet work for all humanity.
It was inspiring to read how bold, independent imagination, when taken seriously, can transform the world. Fuller's inventions traveled far. Yet, it's tragic to recognize that, while Fuller and others like him have the vision and techniques to create an Earthly paradise, the power elite lack the will.
We still have a long way to go.
March 28, 2016
There's a lot of stuff that is dated and sounds ridiculous. Once you get past it, the book has the potential to profoundly change your mind. Just get into it.
Bucky changes perception. I don't think the same way about the world after this.
Bucky changes perception. I don't think the same way about the world after this.
October 16, 2012
I had a mixed reaction to this book. A few chapters were fascinating and provided me new perspectives on the world, but most were rambling and incomprehensible (to me at least). My main takeaway is that R Buckminster Fuller was a really smart guy, but didn't put much effort into making his ideas accessible to others.
December 6, 2015
My second favorite Fuller book (next to I Seem to Be A Verb). Outlines most extensively his vision for how we can apply the Earth's current resources plus humanities knowledge and intellect to give all of humanity a high standard of living. This book is full of many insights and ideas, which unfortunately, have not and may not in the future be applied.
September 10, 2011
A master piece. Never miss this and must read as a group.
November 12, 2017
It is my first book on Buckminster Fuller and it took me a long time to complete my 1st read of the book. 1st read because I realize I will have to re-read it many times to fully comprehend "Bucky's"wisdom. I get to read this because it is a recommended read from the program that I attended, Money & You.
I am amazed by how Bucky was able to see the big picture and see beyond what most people could not see. He is truly a visionary. His ideas and inventions are so out of his time, that the population in the 19th century were not ready to use them.
From Bucky's vision, it gave me huge confidence that abundance is there for 100% humanity if we believe it, and work for it, it could make our Earth a better place for our future generation. It gave me hope that I can become a better me, and start to contribute to humanity. The first step towards this vision, is really education of the world population.
Therefore I would greatly recommend this book for all who love to read, and perhaps I get to see you experiencing his teachings in seminar program like Money & You, or Future of Business Asia.
I am amazed by how Bucky was able to see the big picture and see beyond what most people could not see. He is truly a visionary. His ideas and inventions are so out of his time, that the population in the 19th century were not ready to use them.
From Bucky's vision, it gave me huge confidence that abundance is there for 100% humanity if we believe it, and work for it, it could make our Earth a better place for our future generation. It gave me hope that I can become a better me, and start to contribute to humanity. The first step towards this vision, is really education of the world population.
Therefore I would greatly recommend this book for all who love to read, and perhaps I get to see you experiencing his teachings in seminar program like Money & You, or Future of Business Asia.
February 8, 2026
I found the first part interesting and enjoyable. The rest becomes a tad dated.
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March 28, 2019The short version first...
The author of the work being reviewed was R. Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller's final work. He was a phenomenon of the late 19th and 20th centuries. An author of over 80 books, Fuller was also a prolific inventor, thinker, and creator of unique and specialized designs of things that might make humanity a bit better over the course of a lifetime. His greatest claim to fame was probably the geodesic dome, many of which are still viewable even now over three decades after his passing. For more about Mr. Fuller, please consult the following website.
In Critical Path, R. Buckminster Fuller proceeds to show how mankind evolved and grew in knowledge and critical thinking from his earliest times through the latter decades of the 20th Century. He outlined the many achievements that man had made in his time on Earth as well as the inventions that might be coming in the near term. He was gifted with his understanding and ability to build elaborate constructs as well as discerning the steps and processes needed to make a given item for the use of mankind.
His writing is very difficult to understand, at least that was the truth for me. Despite the years of both studying in various schools and colleges at various levels, I was hard pressed to keep up with Mr. Fuller's presentation in his latest book, Critical Path. The problem for me was his unique way of describing things from different perspectives and cases. He was able to blend together many varieties of prefixes and suffixes, including some times one or more of both onto one root word. His penance for omitting common articles, especially "the," is one of the things that made his writing so troublesome for me. Considering the amount of astronomical and astrophysical texts I have read, the missing article in front of the word "Universe" was one thing that always made me slow down, and re-read a passage. It is now more clear to me that Mr. Fuller saw the word Universe as an almost expected singular noun, such that the article "the" was almost automatically assumed, therefore only an unnecessary three letter word when everyone should understand that there is only one "Universe" in our shared experiences being Earthbound as the vast majority of humanity is.
Another problem that readers may find with Mr. Fuller's work is the fact that his prolific production of works are the sources of many of the items upon which he focuses in his writing of Critical Path. In addition, he also tends to add several prefix and suffix elements, sometimes one or more of each, to make a long word take on the weight of a thought that he sees clearly, but which those of us less attuned, seem to find difficult to understand while also being impossible to find in a standard reference work like a dictionary.
The fact that he has big ideas and grand designs, Mr. Fuller's work also contributed to his being the second leader of MENSA, a group of thinkers, philosophers, and intellectually gifted individuals. In my reading of Mr. Fuller's Critical Path, I did find some elements that seem to be at odds with the flow of history particularly global circumnavigation as an example. He suggested in the work being reviewed, that the Phoenicians were the first to circumnavigate the globe but from west to east rather than the way that Magellan did only east to west. Either way, the vessels of the Phoenicians were less seaworthy than Magellan's vessels considering the fact that sailing against the prevailing winds and weather at the bottom of South America, for example, would have been almost impossible for the simple vessels of the Phoenicians, since the more sturdy and seaworthy ships of Magellan's expedition were seriously damaged coming from east to west through the 40's squalls and high winds at the tip of South America. At least, my history training suggests that this was the case both in seaworthiness of Roman Empire ships versus the ships that were sailing in the 16th and 17th Centuries A.D.
Difficulty of reading level alone suggests that this work is probably only advisable for adult use unless one's students are truly gifted. The student attempting to read this work needs at least a collegiate level of reading comprehension as well as lexical skills to handle multiple prefixes and suffixes as are on virtually every page of this work.
Recommendations:
Great work if you can understand it. The omission of articles, especially "the," makes reading many constructs, especially the word Universe, difficult to go through quickly, at least it was for my brain which is quite used to seeing Universe with a the before it. The multiple prefixes and suffixes make the words so surrounded hard to read unless you know what each of the plethora means as well as how those meanings when attached to the base word affect the overall understanding of what the aglomeration actually means. Good luck with that, normal readers. He is really shooting over both your heads and mine in this work. It is a hard go, taking me about a month longer to read just to think I understood what I read, and I am still not sure that I got all out of of it I think I have retained.
While not for the faint of heart, this one -- on the various points of contention I have had with it -- really merits only about 2.5 stars out of normal 5. If you are a member of MENSA, you probably stand a far better chance at understanding this work compared to those of us far less gifted. Since I am counting myself in the latter group, I am resting my case. If you are stratospheric in your reading ability, it might be just the book for you as you could probably get more out of it than I ever could have even on the best of my collegiate days -- decades ago, alas.
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Review of Critical Path by R. Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller by Richard W. Buro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/190038.Critical_Path.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Request assistance from the St. Martin's Press website.
The author of the work being reviewed was R. Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller's final work. He was a phenomenon of the late 19th and 20th centuries. An author of over 80 books, Fuller was also a prolific inventor, thinker, and creator of unique and specialized designs of things that might make humanity a bit better over the course of a lifetime. His greatest claim to fame was probably the geodesic dome, many of which are still viewable even now over three decades after his passing. For more about Mr. Fuller, please consult the following website.
In Critical Path, R. Buckminster Fuller proceeds to show how mankind evolved and grew in knowledge and critical thinking from his earliest times through the latter decades of the 20th Century. He outlined the many achievements that man had made in his time on Earth as well as the inventions that might be coming in the near term. He was gifted with his understanding and ability to build elaborate constructs as well as discerning the steps and processes needed to make a given item for the use of mankind.
His writing is very difficult to understand, at least that was the truth for me. Despite the years of both studying in various schools and colleges at various levels, I was hard pressed to keep up with Mr. Fuller's presentation in his latest book, Critical Path. The problem for me was his unique way of describing things from different perspectives and cases. He was able to blend together many varieties of prefixes and suffixes, including some times one or more of both onto one root word. His penance for omitting common articles, especially "the," is one of the things that made his writing so troublesome for me. Considering the amount of astronomical and astrophysical texts I have read, the missing article in front of the word "Universe" was one thing that always made me slow down, and re-read a passage. It is now more clear to me that Mr. Fuller saw the word Universe as an almost expected singular noun, such that the article "the" was almost automatically assumed, therefore only an unnecessary three letter word when everyone should understand that there is only one "Universe" in our shared experiences being Earthbound as the vast majority of humanity is.
Another problem that readers may find with Mr. Fuller's work is the fact that his prolific production of works are the sources of many of the items upon which he focuses in his writing of Critical Path. In addition, he also tends to add several prefix and suffix elements, sometimes one or more of each, to make a long word take on the weight of a thought that he sees clearly, but which those of us less attuned, seem to find difficult to understand while also being impossible to find in a standard reference work like a dictionary.
The fact that he has big ideas and grand designs, Mr. Fuller's work also contributed to his being the second leader of MENSA, a group of thinkers, philosophers, and intellectually gifted individuals. In my reading of Mr. Fuller's Critical Path, I did find some elements that seem to be at odds with the flow of history particularly global circumnavigation as an example. He suggested in the work being reviewed, that the Phoenicians were the first to circumnavigate the globe but from west to east rather than the way that Magellan did only east to west. Either way, the vessels of the Phoenicians were less seaworthy than Magellan's vessels considering the fact that sailing against the prevailing winds and weather at the bottom of South America, for example, would have been almost impossible for the simple vessels of the Phoenicians, since the more sturdy and seaworthy ships of Magellan's expedition were seriously damaged coming from east to west through the 40's squalls and high winds at the tip of South America. At least, my history training suggests that this was the case both in seaworthiness of Roman Empire ships versus the ships that were sailing in the 16th and 17th Centuries A.D.
Difficulty of reading level alone suggests that this work is probably only advisable for adult use unless one's students are truly gifted. The student attempting to read this work needs at least a collegiate level of reading comprehension as well as lexical skills to handle multiple prefixes and suffixes as are on virtually every page of this work.
Recommendations:
Great work if you can understand it. The omission of articles, especially "the," makes reading many constructs, especially the word Universe, difficult to go through quickly, at least it was for my brain which is quite used to seeing Universe with a the before it. The multiple prefixes and suffixes make the words so surrounded hard to read unless you know what each of the plethora means as well as how those meanings when attached to the base word affect the overall understanding of what the aglomeration actually means. Good luck with that, normal readers. He is really shooting over both your heads and mine in this work. It is a hard go, taking me about a month longer to read just to think I understood what I read, and I am still not sure that I got all out of of it I think I have retained.
While not for the faint of heart, this one -- on the various points of contention I have had with it -- really merits only about 2.5 stars out of normal 5. If you are a member of MENSA, you probably stand a far better chance at understanding this work compared to those of us far less gifted. Since I am counting myself in the latter group, I am resting my case. If you are stratospheric in your reading ability, it might be just the book for you as you could probably get more out of it than I ever could have even on the best of my collegiate days -- decades ago, alas.
________________________________
Review of Critical Path by R. Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller by Richard W. Buro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/190038.Critical_Path.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Request assistance from the St. Martin's Press website.
September 14, 2007
Buckminster Fuller was one of the greatest inventor,architect, designer and Philosopher United States of America ever had..
Fuller's deep insight and understanding into varied subjects ranging from astronomy to physics to zen philosopy has helped him weave a beautiful story on the history of time and evolution..
He corrobarates the theory that our ancient Indian civilization consisting of traders who traveled in ships to other shores for business had indeed actually prior knowledge of mathematics, specifically trignometry as well as astrology to discover stars and therby get their directions to reach their destinations..
His other discovery that wherever there is abundance of water, there will be greenery and fertility among the population..
case in point is India's and China's population..
Fuller's concept of Dymaxion map is very interesting..using color zones he explains the hot, cold and warmer areas..
he also interprets the inventiveness of the locals living in those areas depending on the hot or cold zones they live in..
If you want to know what make this world and humans tick, this book is a must read..
Fuller's deep insight and understanding into varied subjects ranging from astronomy to physics to zen philosopy has helped him weave a beautiful story on the history of time and evolution..
He corrobarates the theory that our ancient Indian civilization consisting of traders who traveled in ships to other shores for business had indeed actually prior knowledge of mathematics, specifically trignometry as well as astrology to discover stars and therby get their directions to reach their destinations..
His other discovery that wherever there is abundance of water, there will be greenery and fertility among the population..
case in point is India's and China's population..
Fuller's concept of Dymaxion map is very interesting..using color zones he explains the hot, cold and warmer areas..
he also interprets the inventiveness of the locals living in those areas depending on the hot or cold zones they live in..
If you want to know what make this world and humans tick, this book is a must read..
October 5, 2016
If you don't know who Buckminster Fuller is then you should learn a bit more about him. This book is/was a heavy read (like you actually have to think about what you just read).
I would read a page and then start thinking about what he wrote and then put the book down because sometimes it would give me a "Mr. Spock" moment where it was so logical and clear all the b.s. that we've been brainwashed with....I had to seriously ponder it, then read it again.
There were times I thought he's so brilliant and other times I thought this guy is whacked, but he is a genius and often times they are .........well.....out there.
I know I will read it again, it's actually kind of scary to realize just how controlled the world population is, even though we think we're not.....this book isn't about conspiracy, it's about what we haven't been told and why.....yup, pretty deep....it would have been interesting for Mr. Fuller to meet Jacque Fresco | The Venus Project, we might be living in a different world.
I would read a page and then start thinking about what he wrote and then put the book down because sometimes it would give me a "Mr. Spock" moment where it was so logical and clear all the b.s. that we've been brainwashed with....I had to seriously ponder it, then read it again.
There were times I thought he's so brilliant and other times I thought this guy is whacked, but he is a genius and often times they are .........well.....out there.
I know I will read it again, it's actually kind of scary to realize just how controlled the world population is, even though we think we're not.....this book isn't about conspiracy, it's about what we haven't been told and why.....yup, pretty deep....it would have been interesting for Mr. Fuller to meet Jacque Fresco | The Venus Project, we might be living in a different world.
May 12, 2012
Buckminster Fuller was far-sighted, literally. He had no problem discerning objects at a distance, but had trouble seeing up close. His books, capped by CRITICAL PATH, mirror this strength and weakness. Bucky is undoubtedly right that the best future is one approached through rigorous application of critical design principles. But, given the society around us, how do we bring those principles into currency? Ultimately, Fuller's path to progress doesn't seem to lead through human nature or institutions at all. As such, it is more science fiction -- or social fiction -- than anything else.
February 8, 2013
Buckminster Fuller is most definitely a visionary thinker, well before his time. I love his awareness of inventions in relation to time. He has a very engineering centric historical view of the world.
His writing is often over-omni-adjective-heavy-made-up-word-what-the-heck-is-he-talking-about.
I feel like the book could have been about 1/3 the length and had all of the information. My critique here is mainly of the writing, not the ideas presented therein, which I found to be extremely interesting and inspirational. The world needs more people trying to solve big world problems with creative solutions.
This book gives some insight into a mind which floats out of the box.
His writing is often over-omni-adjective-heavy-made-up-word-what-the-heck-is-he-talking-about.
I feel like the book could have been about 1/3 the length and had all of the information. My critique here is mainly of the writing, not the ideas presented therein, which I found to be extremely interesting and inspirational. The world needs more people trying to solve big world problems with creative solutions.
This book gives some insight into a mind which floats out of the box.
July 13, 2009
I agree with Fuller's basic, all-one-humanity paradigm and like his crazy stylistic ticks (including using the prefix omni a whole lot) but there were a ton of wholes in this book and a lot of arguments which were cool the first time get repeated over and over. Perhaps a bit too starry-eyed optimist. There's a reason why most of his designs never made it, and it's because a "design revolution" doesn't automatically get produced just because it's better, the production authorities have to finance/allow it.
January 26, 2017
This is a monumental book. The scope of the content is incredibly vast both in terms of topic area and history covered, and the language of the text itself is structured in such a way as to encode a great deal of meaning in each sentence, though this requires some additional time to unpack (and more than occasional re-reading). Very much worth the effort, though - considered either from an historical perspective or for the ideas in themselves, there is a tremendous amount of insight into systems that affect humanity contained within this tome.
May 14, 2007
Bucky Fullers writing style is painful at times. Even reading a few pages can force you to put down any of his books and give serious thoughts to his ideas. Critical path is a summary of how each person can change his/her immediate reality and in fold force change within the world. This mans ideas should be serious studied by all. Even if you do not agree you are bound to walk away smarter for the deliberation.
January 19, 2008
What an odd man. What a hopeless utopian, but what a trailblazer, what a mind! If the way he writes, his diction, syntax, and neologisms, not to mention content are what they are, and they certainly are aren't they, then we are dealing with someone who is profoundly disassociated from the majority. I don't see how he could have tied his shoes, or hold a conversation!
Plain Bizarre. Zween Bizef!
Plain Bizarre. Zween Bizef!
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August 9, 2011All of his fascinating ideas and inventions might not have worked, but he seems always to be heading in the right direction, so focused on mixing the practical and the big picture .
Sting, in his album Nothing like the Sun, recommends the opening of this book in his liner notes, for its short take on people's motivations in history.
He does, however have an idiosyncratic way of sometimes stringing words and phrases together.
Sting, in his album Nothing like the Sun, recommends the opening of this book in his liner notes, for its short take on people's motivations in history.
He does, however have an idiosyncratic way of sometimes stringing words and phrases together.
October 18, 2011
Buckminster Fuller is an ecclectic genius who wrote a number of books, but in my opinion, none so seminal a work as Critical Path. It used to be a textbook and required reading at college level. Anyone would benefit from Fuller's research and recounting of the origins of commerce, trade and even city-states that grew up along ancient trade routes. How early inventions, one built upon the next, led to a steady path forward for civilization is a fascinating review of human history in the making.
July 17, 2012
The author of this book is a genius but finds it difficult to express ideas in a simple manner. It is an inspiring work that examines why there is such a disparity between the haves and have nots of the world, and what can be done so that everyone lives at an adequate standard of living. Bucky practiced many disciplines in his long lifetime, and this book shows that the information age is a good place to take advantage of our information wealth. Difficult reading, but very worthwhile.
March 12, 2013
This is a mind opening and neural pathway creating book. It is futuristic and scientifically based and has incredible optimism on energy and how much we have and have not even begun to to tap. It is a very enlightening and I believe true account of history.
I am only a quarter of the way through but love it.
Now more than halfway but still impressing me with a future vision that leads toward stability and sustainability for all of humanity.
I am only a quarter of the way through but love it.
Now more than halfway but still impressing me with a future vision that leads toward stability and sustainability for all of humanity.
March 1, 2015
This was just too much for me, and I ended up reading only a small amount of it. I was really interested at the outset, but the convoluted language in which it is written and some of the absolutely bizarre ideas posited (for example that there was some sort of reverse evolution in which porpoises and whales evolved from humans) turned me off. I found it extremely difficult to follow and understand at all what he was talking about most of the time.
Read
October 11, 2014Again, did not read this so much as pulled out the good bits.
Fuller, like Tasseb after him, is a genius in love with the tone of his writing and achievements. I had to get past the dross of that to get the good stuff. The description of the lead up to the Great Depression was enthralling, and the timeline at the back satisfying. The first chapter was annoying, but I have a thing about latin prefixes.
Fuller, like Tasseb after him, is a genius in love with the tone of his writing and achievements. I had to get past the dross of that to get the good stuff. The description of the lead up to the Great Depression was enthralling, and the timeline at the back satisfying. The first chapter was annoying, but I have a thing about latin prefixes.
June 15, 2014
Brilliant but has no intuitional concept of humans. Some of his concepts are original and useful, but some of them are unconscious and horrific products of White Male Privilege written at a time when that privilege went almost completely without self or other Criticism. Ironic for a book called Critical Path.
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