Page 42 RAIN Oct./Nov. 1983 From: Small Is Beautiful RAINMAKERS' FAVORITE BOOKS by John Ferrell Rainmakers, almost without exception, are lovers of books. Those on the staff at any one time must scramble to keep up with the latest and best literature that falls into rain's wide range of interests. Those who eventually leave the staff scramble just as hard to catch up on their personal reading interests—which are often as eclectic as RAIN's. Nineteen present and former Rainmakers have provided us with lists of the books that have most influenced their lives over the past decade. At first glance, these lists convey a sense of pure intellectual anarchy (certainly a Rainmaker trait at times!), but a closer look does reveal some patterns. RAIN people are strongly influenced by the energy/a.t./environmental classics that one might expect, but a fair number of lists also reveal a deep concern with spiritual values, both Eastern and Western. There does not, however, seem to be any corresponding taste for so-called "New Age" books; only Marilyn Ferguson's Aquarian Conspiracy receives more than a single mention in that category. And, perhaps significantly, a number of Rainmakers take care to emphasize that in spite of their love of books, their thoughts and actions in recent years have responded more to such factors as personal intuition and the influence of friends. Of the two most frequently mentioned books, one is certainly no surprise: E. F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful was published the year before RAIN began, and Lane deMoll (RAIN editor, 1975-79) recalls how exciting it was to find a book that "put all our rambling thoughts into a workable framework." The other often-mentioned favorite, Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, is something of a surprise since it was never reviewed in RAIN. None of the Rainmakers who cite this unusual novel about one man's quest for the meaning of "quality" give their reasons for doing so, but perhaps a clue can be found in a letter we published in our August/September 1981 issue. RAIN reader Drummond Read was surprised to find no mention of Zen in RAINBOOK, since he believed there was "no work of literature anywhere more relevant to the underlying set of values which makes appropriate technology appropriate." Read believed the Pirsig book must have "played its part somewhere in the history of RAIN; its mark is all over everything." The only other individual works listed by several Rainmakers are the Club of Rome's 1974 report. Limits to Growth, and the Whole Earth Catalogs (along with Co- Evolution Quarterly). Regarding the Catalogs and Co-Ev, Lane deMoll comments that editor Stewart Brand has, over the years, "consistently pulled together mind- boggling ideas that open up new worlds." Books by architect Christopher Alexander (described in RAIN, Aug./Sept. 1980 and May 1982) receive high praise from three Rainmakers. Dave Deppen (RAIN contributor since 1975) favors all of the well-known Alexander works: A Pattern Language, The Oregon Experiment, The Linz Cafe, and A Timeless Way of Building. He describes the last named as a "powerful, heartfelt study of what makes good buildings and cities." Carlotta
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