"Synergetics" was the summation of Fuller's philosophy; the foundation underlaying his other, practical works. As such, the book contains little in the way of immediately applicable information, such as how to design a car, a building, or a society. Fuller instead concentrates on the abstract quality of structure, based on the tetrahedron, the simplest possible three-dimensional form. He takes nothing for granted: properties of objects are not assumed to automatically exist unless they are explicitly stated. Fuller has great contempt for the cube, an inefficient structure that is unstable without redundant triangulation to support it. His reverence for the tetrahedron, however, obscures the fact that on the human scale, cubes are far more efficient in containing space, the ultimate function of any structure. Cubes are stackable without wasted space or material. This is the reason why houses, boxes and other containers are based on the cube, in many different cultures, while tetrahedron-based structures are limited to geodesic domes and camping tents.
In recent years, "tensegrity" structures have become more common, primarily as sculpture. These are composed of rods that do not touch each other, but are held in place by a continuous lattice of wires. Fuller explains that the rods themselves could be composed of "tensegrity masts," that is, smaller rod-and-cable structures that duplicate solid rods in shape and function. The rods in these masts could themselves be composed of yet smaller tensegrity masts, and so on until we arrive at the atom. The problem here is that going the other direction, to larger ("practical") scale, even the most efficient tensegrity structure must eventually rest, as we all do, on the redundant, wasteful, solid ground. This is why, with the exception of the bicycle wheel, they are relegated to artwork rather than industry.
"Synergetics" contains much more; reminiscence on the author's childhood, a free-verse poem on numbers and linguistic affinities between Polynesians, Zulus, and Vikings, and many beautiful and clear diagrams. The book is written throughout in a highly unusual, but eminently readable language that once experienced, is immediately recognizable as Fuller's unique voice. "Synergetics" and its supplemental volume are vital to an understanding of the author, one of the great visionaries of the 20th Century, and possibly the last Renaissance Man.