In the mid-sixties, hung out with Ken Kesey, Merry Pranksters, and early Acid Tests. 1966, Conceived and sold buttons which read, "Why Haven't We Seen A Photograph of the Whole Earth Yet?" Legend has it that this accelerated NASA's making good color photos of Earth from distant space during the Apollo program and that the ecology movement took shape in 1970 partially as a result of those photos.

Founded, edited, and published the original Whole Earth Catalog. Received National Book Award. All editions sold 2.5 million copies.

Helped design and participated in Doug Engelbart's demonstration of "Augmented Human Intellect" at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco in 1968. It has been described as "the mother of all demoes," since it inspired much of what was to come in personal computers.

Authored Two Cybernetic Frontiers in 1974. It had the first use of the term "personal computer" in print.

Co-founder with Danny Hillis of The Long Now Foundation to foster long-term responsibility. The core projects are building a 10,000-year Clock (designed by Hillis) and tools and services toward a 10,000-year Library (such as the Rosetta Project).

Photograph by Ryan Phelan.