Preface to the 1992 edition
3Buckminster Fuller has been alternately hailed as the most innovative thinker of our time and dismissed as an incomprehensible maverick, but there is a consistent thread running through all the wildly disparate reactions. One point about which there is little disagreement is the difficulty of understanding him.
4 Not surprisingly then, Fuller's mathematical writing has not attracted a mass audience. Rather, "synergetics" has become a sort of Fuller proving ground, into which only the engineers dare to venture. "Oh, I'll never be able to understand it then!" has been the response of countless people upon learning that the subject of my book is synergetics. This reaction would have saddened Bucky immensely: he was so sure his geometry was appropriate for 5-year-olds! However, such shyness is understandable. Deciphering Fuller's two volumes, Synergetics and Synergetics 2, requires a sizable commitment of time and patience from even the most dedicated reader. Study groups have gone a long way toward helping individuals unravel the idiosyncratic, hyphenated prose of these two works, but the task, still arduous, is not for everyone. However, the major concepts presented in Fuller's intimidating books are not inherently difficult, and much of synergetics can be explained in simple, familiar terms. That is the purpose of A Fuller Explanation.
5 Synergetics, in the broadest terms, is the systematic study of space, and as such is an inherently comprehensive discipline. Designers, architects, and scientists can easily find connections to their work; however, the larger significance of Fuller's geometry may be less visible. Experience with synergetics encourages a new way of approaching and solving problems. Its emphasis on visual and spatial phenomena combined with Fuller's holistic approach fosters the kind of lateral thinking which so often leads to creative breakthroughs. Moreover, familiarity with synergetics facilitates recognition of significant patterns that might otherwise be missed.
6 The recent discovery of C60—a carbon molecule that's a tiny replica of Fuller's geodesic dome—provides an apt illustration. In naming this new molecule "buckminsterfullerene", scientists Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley have lightheartedly acknowledged a debt to Fuller for enabling them to identify this geometric configuration occurring on a scale far too small to be seen directly. As a result, almost a decade after Buckminster Fuller's death, his name can be found in some newspaper or magazine on a weekly basis, due to C60's far-ranging implications for science and industry. Scientists have speculated that "buckyballs" may revolutionize industrial lubricants, plastics, and even lead to superconductors that carry electricity without resistance. Buckminsterfullerene's structure is what Harvard's Arthur Loeb has called a "truncated icosahedron"; Bucky called this particular geodesic shape the "hexapent dome". The rest of us call it a soccer ball! Whatever the label, this structure is characterized by inherent stability and the efficient use of space. And so, if Nature were doing her job, buckminsterfullerene would be the only logical choice for structuring C60. Discovering the shared principles behind structures of all materials, shapes and sizes is what synergetics is all about.
7 A Fuller Explanation is geared to readers with no mathematical background, but of course it can be read at many levels. Even if one is familiar with some of the geometric concepts, Fuller's unique interpretation and development of them may offer new insights. Synergetics is also fascinating as a reflection of Fuller himself; his wide-eyed appreciation of nature and human invention alike exudes from his expression of these geometric concepts. The primary purpose of this volume is thus to present the nuts and bolts of synergetics, the tools with which to continue exploring Fuller's work; but almost as importantly, I hope to convey the spirit of Fuller's inquiry into the organizing principles of nature.
8 When Bucky Fuller looked around, he saw, not trees and roads and butterflies, but a miraculous web of interacting patterns. As he describes these patterns, using his peculiar blend of antiquated phrases and electronic-age jargon, one cannot help concluding that no child was ever as startled as Bucky to discover that the world is not what it appears, that the apparently solid and lifeless rock is a bundle of energetic atomic activity. He never lost that awe. Synergetics is his attempt to give some of it away.
9 I have included (along with explanation) many of Fuller's own descriptions and invented terms. Although I set out to interpret and explain Bucky in ordinary language—a task I found increasingly tricky as I became more deeply involved in the project—I began to sense a deep appropriateness to Bucky's peculiar phraseology. Many passages that seem convoluted at first reading later seem to express his meaning more precisely than could any substitutes. As I quote Fuller often in this book, readers will be able to judge for themselves.
10 —Amy C. Edmondson
11 Cambridge, Massachusetts
12 April 1992