The Whole Earth Catalog adventure

The Whole Earth Catalog adventure
  • Work

Caroline MANIAQUE, The Adventure of the Whole Earth Catalog, Les Productions du EFFA, 2021

The book tells the story of the birth, development and end of a "catalogue" that appeared in several versions from 1968 onwards, spread outside any traditional institutional and economic framework, sold more than a million copies in the United States and Europe and inspired European versions, notably, in France, Le Catalogue des Ressources. The Whole Earth Catalog informed its readers in very concrete terms about the latest research of the American counterculture on how to live differently: how to build a geodesic dome, make compost or design an architecture with a solar energy collection device, as well as the latest publications in the practical or scientific fields. The transformation of lifestyle was also addressed on a personal level, with, for example, the interest in yoga appearing in the background. The catalogue also combined an ecological approach, hippie sensibility and an interest in cybernetics. Paradoxically, it thus heralded the transformation of our societies by the new information technologies.

Publication: 14/07/2021