Released in 1973 while Bucky Fuller was still alive and active, Hugh Kenner's biography remains an enlightening glimpse at the "Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century".

Unique amongst the the half-dozen biographies I have read about Buckminster Fuller, Kenner has a strong poetic streak, which invigorates his writing. He uses imaginative language about "vectors radiating from where Bucky stands - twelve of them", and other phrases that make Fuller seem like a sort of alien conduit for universal truth. This language makes for rewarding reading.

This book has three strong points, of interest to contemporary scholars of Bucky Fuller:

• The "day in the life of Buckminster Fuller"-type approach conveyed through chapters 1 and 2. Kenner was fortunate to be able to accompany Bucky on some of his lecturing travels, and notes what it is like to travel and dine with Bucky and Anne Fuller. He also describes what attending one of Bucky's lectures was like: an experience that had not been captured by any of the other biographies I had read.

• Informative and lucid descriptions of Bucky's theories of geometry, physics, and metaphysics. This was a pleasant surprise, as I assumed that the poetic Kenner would mostly excel at describing the man himself. Instead, I found that Kenner's explanations of tensegrity and other concepts were top-notch, and better than Fuller's own words. It was refreshing to see a literate writer with a strong grasp of mathematics.

• Kenner does not take Bucky at face-value, and has a strong awareness of how Bucky's boastful claims measured-up in reality. Kenner dedicates Chapter 9 to a sceptical examination of Bucky's theories. He also understands the wider domains of science and mathematics that Bucky inhabited, and does much to puncture the 'lone genius' myth that many people ascribe to Bucky. This is an approach that would be taken further by other writers through New Views on R. Buckminster Fuller (2009).

The deficiency of Bucky: A Guided Tour of Buckminster Fuller is that it is not comprehensive enough to serve as a stand-alone biography. Many allusions to Bucky's insights and philosophies are casually mentioned, without full explanations of their significance (for example, the farm animals/planes story on pp4-5).

Similarly, significant sections of Bucky's career are either barely mentioned (e.g. Stockade Building Systems, the Dymaxion map, the Dymaxion House), or not mentioned at all (e.g. the Dymaxion Deployment Unit, Geoscopes).

For this reason, I suggest reading Hugh Kenner's book after reading a more comprehensive biography, such as Buckminster Fuller's Universe (1989), which remains the best book I have read about Bucky. Visit Hugh Kenner's book when you want to flesh-out a richer vision of the man himself, that goes beyond the chronological timelime. ( )