Buckminster Fuller is regarded as one of the most important figures of the 20th century, renowned for his achievements as an inventor, designer, architect, philosopher, mathematician, and dogged individualist. Perhaps best remembered for the Geodesic Dome and the term "Spaceship Earth," his work and his writings have had a profound impact on modern life and thought.Critical Path is Fuller's master work--the summing up of a lifetime's thought and concern--as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. Critical Path details how humanity found itself in its current situation--at the limits of the planet's natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises.The crowning achievement of an extraordinary career, Critical Path offers the reader the excitement of understanding the essential dilemmas of our time and how responsible citizens can rise to meet this ultimate challenge to our future.

    In this acclaimed work, Gilder offers an illuminating discussion of how to increase wealth and curtail poverty, arguing that most welfare programs only serve to keep the poor in poverty as victims of welfare dependency.

    To paraphrase Mark Twain, however, news of the demise of bioremediation may have been exaggerated; there is still a widespread belief that bioremediation remains a viable and promising technology. Among the many topics addressed in this book, three are of particular significance. The first concerns the development of suitable toxicological tests to be used in conjunction with bioremediation strategies. Traditional reliance on chemical analysis to understand the direction and extent of treatment in a bioremediation process has been found to be inadequate. Whereas the goal of bioremediation is toxicity reduction, few direct, reliable measures of this process are as yet available. Another area of intense discussion is the assessment of market forces contributing to the acceptability of bioremediation. Finally, another important component is a series of lectures and lively exchanges devoted to practical applications of different bioremediation technologies.

    

    While social classes are grouped according to common material interests, ethnic groups are organized by real or putative common descent--ultimately on the basis of common interests. The author argues that ethnic nepotism is, at its very foundation, biological. This new approach is expanded further, taking into account how ethnicity is responsive to a wide spectrum of environmental factors. He analytically relates his own ideological biases to the substance of his work. What results is an intensely personal book of monumental scope and admirable intellectual honesty.

    Bauer challenges widely held views about economic development, colonialism, the foreign aid process, the goal of egalitarianism and the population explosion.