From: Patrick Salsbury (salsbury_at_sculptors.com)
Date: 06/20/00
Message-Id: <200006210127.SAA27617@bootstrap.sculptors.com> Subject: Book Review: "The Last Frontiers On Earth", by Jon Fisher Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 18:27:27 -0700 From: Patrick Salsbury <salsbury_at_sculptors.com>
I recently read a book by Jon Fisher entitled:
"The Last Frontiers On Earth: Strange Places Where You Can Live Free"
which is (c)1980,1985 by Loompanics (http://www.loompanics.com)
You can find it on their site by doing a search on their site
for "Ocean Islands", which returns this, and his other book,
"Uninhabited Ocean Islands".
It's a very interesting read, covering various places on the earth
which are uninhabited, or only sparsely inhabited. It's a good read
for those interested in living free of monetary costs, or free from
government control, or for those who get really fired up at the
thought of pioneering someplace new.
He covers living in the Polar Regions, such as in Antarctica, on the
Arctic ice-cap, on a floating iceberg, or a sub-Antarctic island (some
of which, interestingly enough, are actually at southern latitudes
corresponding to the northern latitudes of California, and other
places in the continental US and Canada.)
He also discusses living on the ocean, on floating platforms, boats,
deserted islands, underwater habitats, and on submarines. The
underwater habitat section was especially nice, detailing some of the
history of underwater habitation work pioneered by Jacques Cousteau,
the US Navy, and the Oceanic Foundation. These can be positioned on
the continental shelves, on isolated seamounts, submerged reefs,
uninhabited atolls, and inland waters, such as lakes and rivers.
The floating-platform design featured in the book is the "reefhome" by
William Barkley. It's a 20 ft diameter, 100 ft. long cylinder, which
looks like a very large propane tank. Here's the description:
"The reefhome would consist of a large diameter pipe section,
suspended horizontally, in which living quarters would be built. A
deck would be raised above the pipe section and would be connected to
it by two hollow cylinders with circular staircases inside. Suspended
on cables below the pipe section would be a concrete open-lattice
mat. The unit would float at a depth such that the pipe section/living
quarters would be below the surface (for protection from bad weather),
while the deck would be above the surface, allowing free access to
sunshine and open air. While the reefhome could be towed from place to
place, it isn't really designed to be mobile, and it would usually be
anchored in one place. The mat suspended below would add stability to
the unit. Also, various forms of sea life would attach to and grow on
the mat, and fish would gather to feed on them.
The reefhome could be made out of steel, fiberglass, or
concrete. Steel would allow the fastest construction, but fiberglass
would be lighter, and concrete would be the cheapest and the most
durable. Barkley calculates that a 20 foot diameter by 100 foot long
reefhome with rounded ends on the pipe section would provide 2,100
square feet of living space on the main deck of the living quarters,
with more space on a lower deck in the bottom of the cylinder and
perhaps a larger square footage than that again on the deck above the
surface."
There's a very cool line-drawing which shows this quite
clearly. I can't find a web-version, though, so I may try to whip up
something in the 3D modeller and post it later.
He goes on in quite a bit more detail about how these could be
located around atolls, etc. Lots of good food for the imagination. :-)
In fact, we very well may consider manufacturing things like these in
the future, for people who want to live in tropical locales.
Overall, I found the book to be quite a good read, and plan to
read the "Uninhabited Ocean Islands" book sometime soon. (I've owned
it for years, and it sits on the shelf next to "Free Space!", and "How
To Start Your Own Country" (both from Loompanics), as well as
"Underwater California", and another which I can't remember just now.
There are numerous chapters on living as a nomad, on foot,
bicycle, RV, horse, motorcycle, etc.
He discusses living nomadically on an airship, and traces
through some of the history of lighter-than-air flight, and how such
an airborn habitat could function as a transport system (much like the
recently announced Cargolifter corporation - http://www.cargolifter.de
) to generate extra revenue.
He also gives pointers to further reading and resources
throughout the book, although some of it, such as magazines & such,
are probably outdated, and 1985 is all very pre-internet/web.
I found some parts of the book to focus a bit much on the
survivalist, escape-from-society-and-hide-from-the-goverment side, but
overall, it was a good read. The last few chapters tended to focus on
"hideouts" like living in a secret cellar, ghost town, cavern, or
desert, and I found these to be (oddly enough) less realistic than,
say, living on an iceberg, under the ocean, on floating platforms, or
in airships. Go figure. :-)
Overall, though, I'd definitely recommend the book to those
interested in this sort of thing. It's good food for thought, and
sparks lots of "what if?" ideas in your head.
Pat
___________________Think For Yourself____________________
Patrick G. Salsbury - http://reality.sculptors.com/~salsbury/
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The people that get on in this world are the people who get up and look for
the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.
-- George Bernard Shaw