Back to top
90.
The Universal Traveler. A Soft-Systems Guide to: Creativity, Problem-Solving and the Process of Reaching Goals.
Los Altos, CA: William Kaufmann, Inc., (1971), revised edition, 1974. 4to. Wrps., 128pp. Illustrated throughout with rubber stamps, clip art and diagrams, including a "Traveler's Map".
A metaphorical travel guide to creative problem-solving in which the authors/designers adapt the lessons of cybernetics and apply them in a "user-friendly" approach to problem-solving 'Soft Systems': "The goal of The Universal Traveler is to translate what began as a simple organizational realization and grew to become a highly specialized, computer assisted mathematical and statistical discipline for solving complex world problems, back into an easy-to-learn language for everyday use" (from the introduction).
Along with Ted Nelson's 'Computer Lib' (item #149), one of the counterculture's design classics; both works were early printed examples of hypertext, and both were inspired by the Whole Earth Catalog, whose founder, Stewart Brand, was himself influenced by the cyberneticist Gregory Bateson.
Slight lower right corner bend, o/w a tight, square Very Good plus copy.
