1971
The Last Whole Earth Catalog
In 1971 The Last Whole Earth Catalog came out and I read every inch of it. The “Catalog” had articles, product reviews with a focus on self-sufficiency, ecology and "do it yourself" (DIY) projects Although “catalog” was part of its name, it actually did not sell anything but rather provided the vendor contact information for items. But it was more than a catalog, it was a description of an alternative lifestyle. It had sections on gardening, Ecology, Tools, Woodcraft, Home School, Meditation, Mysticism, and many more, one of my favorites was in the Shelter section which had information on geodesic domes. I had read about popular the architect Buckminster Fuller and his geodesic dome houses in Popular Science a few years earlier and here were articles about how to build them. When I read the review of “Domebook Two” describing it as “an instruction manual for builders” I ordered a copy and for many years had dreams of building one.
WEC
page for Domebook 2
Domebook 2
Cover
The Whole Earth Catalog was fascinating to read, not only for products, reviews and articles, but scattered throughout its pages was a short story called “Divine Right’s Trip” about the adventures of a hippy named Divine Right and his girlfriend Estelle as they travel across country in a ’63 VW Bus called Urge. The story is told from the viewpoint of the patient and introspective bus. The story is entertaining, funny, and once you start, it is hard to stop reading. With the story spread out with short sections on a page, one can’t help but get distracted from the story and look at all the interesting things or read the articles on the page. I probably haven’t read the story since the ‘70s and now while writing this I find that not being able to stop reading it again.
Right - The begining of Devine Right's Trip
Above - Ending of story on on last page of catalog
Updated: 12-08-2022