Bucky Works - Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today.

'R. Buckminster Fuller intentionally worked 50 years ahead of his time. That's now' is the opening sentence of the book. Then we find that the author is currently employed re-constructing the sole surviving Wichita house as a museum exhibit. So the heritage culture has the last laugh.

There are numerous books by or about Buckminster Fuller. Others may have better illustrations or be more comprehensive, but this one has three great advantages. First, Mr Baldwin worked with Fuller for 30 years; second, he has a great sense of humour; and third, he has a gift of making complicated ideas comprehensible. Fuller's ideas have been rendered difficult to understand by his invention of new words and opaque phraseology, but Mr Baldwin can cut through this with clear explanations and a sense of enjoyment.

Fuller emerges as a very human giant, both tragic and heroic. His 'doing more with less' is becoming a moral imperative for us all as we seek more sustainable developments, and his search for sustainability through better technology and greater use of brain-power is more optimistic than the back-to-peasants attitude of so much green architecture.

In this sense Fuller's ideas become more important year by year, but some concepts of his are clearly dubious, such as the belief that natural circulation would keep domes cool in hot climates, and some are plain silly, such as the statement that insulation is caused by drag and so is unnecessary if a building is shaped aerodynamically. Baldwin tells us all this and much more, and he has a cheerful, but critical, admiration for Fuller that makes the book a pleasure to read.

JOHN WINTER