Science and engineering, twin giant forces, are lacking in social consciousness, at least in their organized aspects, O'Neil believes, and development of that is vital to cultural progress. It is vital because only through such a new attitude can reconstruction of "man's terrestrial homestead" to harmonize with changed needs and ideals be accomplished. With that premise, the author proceeds to orient the reader on Nature's basic design and how Nature actually has always proved to be an ultrascientific engineer. Chapters on "The Master Designer" and "The Pulsing Ball We Call the Earth" present this graphically.
Man's fumbling attempts to take over are described in a section devoted to consideration of primitive civilizations, the phenomena of rivers and their rise and fall, and the construction of early cities after the brick, the "module of the structural art," was developed. After sections on the "personality" of the modern world, in which a