Inventor of the Future - by Alec Nevala-Lee

About the Book

This "is the first authoritative biography to cover all aspects of Fuller's career. Drawing on meticulous research, dozens of interviews, and thousands of unpublished documents, Nevala-Lee has produced a ... portrait that transcends the myth of Fuller as an otherworldly generalist. It reconstructs the true origins of his most famous inventions, including the Dymaxion Car, the Wichita House, and the dome itself; his fraught relationships with his students and collaborators; his interactions with Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi, Clare Boothe Luce, John Cage, Steve Jobs, and many others; and his tumultuous private life, in which his determination to succeed on his own terms came at an immense personal cost"--

Book Synopsis

One of Esquire's 50 Best Biographies of All Time * One of The Economist's Best Books of 2022 * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Nominated for The Next Big Idea Club * The Week Magazine Book of the Week

From Alec Nevala-Lee, the author of the Hugo and Locus Award finalist Astounding, comes a revelatory biography of the visionary designer who defined the rules of startup culture and shaped America's idea of the future.

During his lifetime, Buckminster Fuller was hailed as one of the greatest geniuses of the twentieth century. As the architectural designer and futurist best known for the geodesic dome, he enthralled a vast popular audience, inspired devotion from both the counterculture and the establishment, and was praised as a modern Leonardo da Vinci. To his admirers, he exemplified what one man could accomplish by approaching urgent design problems using a radically unconventional set of strategies, which he based on a mystical conception of the universe's geometry. His views on sustainability, as embodied in the image of Spaceship Earth, convinced him that it was possible to provide for all humanity through the efficient use of planetary resources. From Epcot Center to the molecule named in his honor as the buckyball, Fuller's legacy endures to this day, and his belief in the transformative potential of technology profoundly influenced the founders of Silicon Valley.

Inventor of the Future is the first authoritative biography to cover all aspects of Fuller's career. Drawing on meticulous research, dozens of interviews, and thousands of unpublished documents, Nevala-Lee has produced a riveting portrait that transcends the myth of Fuller as an otherworldly generalist. It reconstructs the true origins of his most famous inventions, including the Dymaxion Car, the Wichita House, and the dome itself; his fraught relationships with his students and collaborators; his interactions with Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi, Clare Boothe Luce, John Cage, Steve Jobs, and many others; and his tumultuous private life, in which his determination to succeed on his own terms came at an immense personal cost. In an era of accelerating change, Fuller's example remains enormously relevant, and his lessons for designers, activists, and innovators are as powerful and essential as ever.

Review Quotes

"Nevala-Lee brings back to life one of the most influential American minds of the twentieth century--revealing both the brilliance and the flaws that are contributing to the bold and radical technological reimagining of how we think and live." - David Edwards, author of Creating Things That Matter: The Art and Science of Innovations That Last
"Novelist, biographer, and science-fiction writer Nevala-Lee draws on abundant archival material to fashion a thoroughly researched, comprehensive biography of architect, inventor, and "serial entrepreneur" R. Buckminster Fuller....A perceptive and cleareyed biography of a unique figure." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Nevala-Lee draws a revealing portrait of the Buckminster Fuller behind the legend. It encompasses both Fuller's passions and his foibles. Placing Fuller where he belongs in the pantheon of America's inventors, Inventor of the Future is the first complete portrait of both the man and the myth." - John Markoff, author of Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand
"This probing biography of Buckminster Fuller distinguishes man from myth while giving the iconic designer and futurist due credit for influencing generations of big thinkers...Nevala-Lee diligently emphasizes Fuller's contradictions...but he also persuasively demonstrates that, in the end, none of Fuller's epic shortcomings would matter. Fuller's most enduring creation was his own ethos, that of the free-thinking futurist whose design solutions would solve the planet's problems. Such ideas would take deep root, especially in Silicon Valley, even if the math never quite worked out." - Booklist (starred review)
"This is a deceptively artful book of circuitous tensions and great circles (which the author uses as beautiful chapter titles and section headings) where, finally, all the loops and time-bends of Buckminster Fuller's improbable life come close to merging into one." - Paul Hendrickson, author of Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright
"Revealing . . . Utterly fascinating . . . An important biography and entertaining read from start to finish." - Analog Science Fiction and Fact
"This exhaustive biography of mastermind architect Buckminster Fuller sheds light on the origins of some of his most notable works. While the book looks back on interviews and unpublished documents from Fuller's lifetime and career, Fuller himself will always be remembered for looking toward the future." - The Architect's Newspaper
"Revealing...Fuller could come across as a selfless seer, almost a secular saint; in Nevala-Lee's biography he is all too human...The strength of this carefully researched and fair-minded biography is that the reader comes away with a greater understanding of a deeply complicated individual who overcame obstacles--many of his own making--to achieve a kind of imperfect greatness." - Witold Rybczynski, New York Times
"Nevala-Lee is something of an expert in a very specific type: twentieth-century men, working on the fringes of stem careers, who channeled the technological optimism of the years between World War I and the 1970s into careers as media icons...A labor of love...Meticulous and clearly written." - New Republic
"Novelist Nevala-Lee (Astounding) offers a cogent assessment of futurist Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), "a man who had been revered by both the counterculture and the establishment" in this solid biography...a fascinating portrait of a larger-than-life figure." - Publishers Weekly
"A clear-eyed portrait of the cult of (tech) personality that reads very 2022." - Chicago Tribune, "Books for Summer 2022"