THE LAST WHOLE EARTH CATALOG

by Stewart --Ed. Brand ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

It's the final 448-page supercatalog, the editors having decided to ""step out"" of the ""void in the economy we stumbled into,"" and the last chance for libraries to obtain the ""evaluation and access device"" that has become a reluctant institution since its modest 2000 copy beginning in 1968. The subject index lists Buckminster, country cures, dome geometry, exotic crops, managing rock, and of course macrame, organic gardening, and yoga. Cataloged with order information are books (most of the entries) and boots, sleeping bags and snowshoes, Michelin maps (75¢ up) and Moog synthesizers ($3500 to $8000). All items are reviewed, opinions being in the editor's words ""wholly sincere, only partially informed, and often biased. . . Try to see through them."" There are also generous excerpts from the books (legal advice from the Bust Book, first aid for bummers from Conscientious Guide to Drug Abuse) and freebies like the page-long Overland Guide to Nepal or the fantasy, ""Divine Right's Trip,"" that runs through the catalog on the lower right corner of every right-hand page. All together (and it is) it's a counterculture Consumer Reports, a survivor's handbook for communers and ecology freaks, an up for any YA collection that wants to get it on. A considerable proportion of the books and magazines listed (the Audel Guides, Tunis's Colonial books, Cooper's aerobics books, Adele Davis's cookbooks, even Scientific American) are available at any public library, if Whole Earthlings only knew it. . . so why not turn their heads around with a free selective Whole Library Catalog?

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: dist. by Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION