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The Whole Earth Catalog (WEC) was published twice a year from 1968 to 1972, and periodically thereafter. It had rudimentary typesetting and page-layout, and outsize pages measuring 11x14 inches (28x36 cm).

The principal creator of the Whole Earth Catalog was [[Stewart Brand]]. The title derived from Brand's 1966 campaign to pressure NASA to release satellite images the Earth, during which he distributed buttons that read, "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?"

The Whole Earth Catalog brought together many of the themes of 1960s, such as natural lifestyle, counterculture, ecology and the importance of looking at the big picture. The Catalog's proclaimed purpose was to provide "access to tools," expressing a "do it yourself" and "hands-on" attitude associated with the "counterculture." It presented a wide range of specialized technical tools, but used a broad definition of the term "tools," including notably informational tools, such as books, maps, professional journals, courses and classes. The majority of the entries in fact concerned books rather than physical tools.

==The Whole Earth Catalog from 1968 to 1972==
The first edition of the Whole Earth Catalog which appeared in 1968 was dedicated to [[Buckminster Fuller]]. The Catalog was published twice a year until the "Last Whole Earth Catalog" of 1972, which announced the intention of discontinuing the series. It was nearly an inch thick and won the National Book Award. By this time Brand and colleagues had decided that Fuller's viewpoint placed too much emphasis on individualism, and they dedicated the Last Whole Earth Catalog instead to [[Gregory Bateson]], who was felt to reflect the Catalog's orientation towards community and ecology.

==The Whole Earth Catalog after 1972==
Updated editions of the Last Whole Earth Catalog appeared periodically, including the:
*Whole Earth Epilog in 1974.
*Next Whole Earth Catalog in 1980, with an updated second edition published in 1981.
*Essential Whole Earth Catalog in 1986.
*Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, the last 'full' WEC, in 1994.
*30th Anniversary Celebration WEC in 1998. 

In 1989 the WEC was published on CD-ROM using an early version of hypertext.

==Whole Earth Catalogs on special subjects==
Separate Whole Earth Catalogs on special subjects included the:
*Whole Earth Software Catalog published in the 1980s (two editions)
*Whole Earth Catalog dedicated to Communications Tools published in the late 1980s (or in 1990).
*Whole Earth Ecolog, devoted exclusively to environmental topics, published in 1990.
*Special WECs on specific topics such as "The Fringes of Reason."

==Links==
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Brand

[[Category:Whole Earth]]