Radical Technology (1976 book)

Radical Technology: Food and Shelter, Tools and Materials, Energy and Communications, Autonomy and Community is a 1976 book edited by Godfrey Boyle and Peter Harper, and the editors of the Undercurrents magazine. Radical Technology is a large-format, extensively illustrated collection of original articles concerning the reorganisation of technology along more humane, rational and ecologically sound lines. The many facets of such a reorganisation are reflected in the wide variety of contributions to the book. They cover both the hardware - the machines and technical methods themselves - and the 'software' - the social and political structures, the way people relate to each other and to their environment, and how they feel about it all.

The articles in the book range from detailed "recipes" through general accounts of alternative technical methods, to critiques of current practices, and general proposals for reorganizations. Each author has been encouraged to follow her or his own personal approach, sometimes descriptive, sometimes analytic, sometimes technical, sometimes political. The contributors are all authorities in their fields.

The book is divided into seven sections (see below): Food, Energy, Shelter, Autonomy, Materials, Communication, Other Perspectives. Over forty separate articles include items on fish culture, small-scale water supply, biological energy sources, a definitive zoology of the windmill, selfhelp housing, building with subsoil, making car-type shoes, the economics of autonomous houses, what to look for in scrap yards, alternative radio networks, utopian communities, and technology in China. Between the main sections are interviews with prominent practitioners and theorists of Radical Technology, including John Todd of the New Alchemy Institute; Robert Jungk, author of Humanity 2000; the Street Farmers, a group of anarchist architects; Peter van Dresser, and Sietz Leefland, editor of Small Earth, the Dutch journal of alternative technology.

Also included between the main sections of the book is a series of visionary drawings by the gifted illustrator Clifford Harper, evoking the spirit and practice of Radical Technology: How it could be. These drawings, or 'visions' include a communalised urban garden layout; a household basement workshop; a community workshop; a community media centre; a collectivised terrace of urban houses; and an autonomous rural housing estate.

The book ends with a comprehensive directory of the literature and active organizations in Radical Technology. This notes inevitable gaps in the book's coverage, points the reader to where more information can be found, and provides also an overall picture of a growing movement.

1. Food
   1. Agribusiness by Charlie Clutterbuck
   2. Animal farm by John Seymour
   3. Compost culture by Lawrence D. Hills
   4. Biodynamic agriculture by H.H. Koepf and John Davy
   5. Food glorious food by John Shore
   6. A question of balance by Monica Hill
   7. Cut out the tripe by Tony Joyce
   8. After the goldfish by John Wood
   9. The answer lies in solution by J. Sholto Douglas
   10. Great pigs from little acorns grow by John Wood
   11. Across the hungry gap by John Seymour
   12. Each piece of land to each piece of sky by George Woolston
   13. Vision I: Collectivised garden by Clifford Harper
   14. Interview: John Todd by Patrick Rivers
2. Energy
   1. Plant your own power by Robert Vale
   2. Insulation by Brenda Vale
   3. Sunshine superpower by Robert Vale
   4. Natural, endless free by Derek Taylor
   5. Essentially co-operative energy by George Woolston
   6. Cast iron power by Kit Pedler
   7. Vision 2: Basement workshop by Clifford Harper
   8. Interview: Sietz Leeflang by Godfrey Boyle
3. Shelter
   1. Lightweight / temporary / low-cost / quick / mobile by Stefan Szczelcun
   2. Folk building by Brenda Vale
   3. The ground over our heads by Colin Taylor
   4. Self help housing by Tom Wooley
   5. Man maketh the clothes by Chris Ryan
   6. Shoes by Nick Mellor
   7. Interview: Peter Van Dresser by Patrick Rivers
   8. Vision 3: Autonomous village by Clifford Harper
4. Autonomy
   1. Limits of material autonomy; Means of autonomy; Variations on autonomy; Family automony: Economics of autonomy: Collective autonomy; Practical fantasies; Conclusions by Peter Harper
   2. Vision 4: Autonomous terrace by Clifford Harper
   3. Interview: Street farmers by Godfrey Boyle
5. Materials
   1. Rolling your own by Derek Burns
   2. Working the plank by Rob and Al Hitchings
   3. Skeptical chymist by Alan Dalton
   4. Any old iron by Robert and Al Hitchings
   5. De re metallica by Alan Stewart
   6. Vision 5: Community workshop by Clifford Harper
   7. Interview: Robert Jungk by Tony Durham
6. Communications
   1. Hold the front page by Jonathan Zeitlyn
   2. Unfair exchange by Ian Morton
   3. R.T. Craft by Richard Elen, Cop McDonald
   4. Two-way mirror by Tom Picton
   5. There's no transport like no transport by Patrick Rivers
   6. Vision 6: Community media centre by Clifford Harper
7. Other perspectives
   1. The moon in the mind by Lyn Gambles
   2. Inner technologies by Peter Russell
   3. It's been said before and where did that get us by Jos Kingston
   4. Escape route for the poor by Jimoh Omo-Fadakah
   5. Homespun philosophy by Satish Kumar
   6. Popular power 1970-73 by Josefina Mena
   7. Think big, think little by Tony Durham
   8. Bibliography and directory by Peter Harper

• If you want to read the original Radical Technology book, a slightly grainy microfiche version can be downloaded here.
• article in No Tech Magazine: "Radical Technology Revisited" (about Sept. 2016 conference)
• Book used on Amazon.com
• The Undercurrents Archive 1972 - 1984