I Seem to Be a Verb

Buckminster Fuller, Quentin Fiore

Gingko Press, Incorporated, 2015 - 192 pages

Buckminster Fullers explorations as an architect, engineer, philosopher and futurist are extended into experimental book form through his collaboration with producer Jerome Agel and designer Quentin Fiore. I Seem to Be A Verbs utopian plans, clever insights and light-hearted musings rub elbows with revelatory and often jolting reminders that we are in motion, full of impulsive nerves, flowing blood and constant thought. This fun and challenging book is packed with images, dense layouts and narratives reading both front to back and in reverse. All this to remind us that we are verbs, not nouns! Buckminster Fuller was awarded 25 patents, invented the geodesic dome, the dymaxion car and was expelled from Harvard twice. I Seem to Be a Verb was originally published in 1970. I am convinced that creativity is a priori to the integrity of the universe and that life is regenerative and conformity meaningless. R. Buckminster Fuller.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - mrgan - LibraryThing

A perfectly charming, cute, naive, cranky collage of jokes, clever insights, utopian plans, and futuristic predictions about technology and society. It's wacky enough that it doesn't need to take its message too seriously, but interesting enough to get you flipping pages. Unique.

About the author

Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller, the innovative thinker, engineer, and inventor, was born July 12, 1895 in Milton, Massachusetts. Despite early failures and tragedies, including his being expelled from Harvard University twice and the death of his four-year-old daughter, Fuller went on to achieve many successes. He is best known for inventing the geodesic dome; his design has been used in structures all over the world. Besides Harvard, Fuller also attended the U.S. Naval Academy, and was a professor at Southern Illinois University. He is the author of Synergetics: Explanations in the Geometry of Thinking, a book that discusses the utopic role technology will play in the future. Critical Path is the book Fuller felt was his most important. It outlined his plan to rejuvenate earth through the use of technology. His last book, Grunch of Giants, summarizes his most important ideas. Fuller was awarded 28 United States patents and many honorary doctorates. In 1968 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member. In 1970 he received the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him on February 23, 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.

Quentin Fiore was born in the Bronx, New York on February 12, 1920. He studied at the Art Students League of New York but turned to calligraphy and type design to make ends meet. During World War II, he declared himself a conscientious objector and was assigned to camps in California, Colorado, and New Hampshire, fighting forest fires and rescuing lost or injured skiers. In the 1950s, he turned to general design and became a consultant and designer for corporate clients like the Ford Foundation, Bell Laboratories, and RCA. He spent much of his career doing conventional design work for large corporations and book jackets for university presses. However, he also collaborated on several books including The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects and War and Peace in the Global Village with Marshall McLuhan, Do It! with Jerry Rubin, and I Seem to Be a Verb with Buckminster Fuller. He died from complications of bronchitis on April 13, 2019 at the age of 99.

Bibliographic information

• Title: I Seem to Be a Verb
• Authors: Buckminster Fuller, Quentin Fiore
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Gingko Press, Incorporated, 2015
• ISBN: 1584235950, 9781584235958
• Length: 192 pages