Before there was the Web, there was the Whole Earth Catalog

Sure it was full of hippy-dippy shit, but the Whole Earth Catalog, published from the '60s through the '90s, said it all in its subtitle: Access to Tools. That's what the Whole Earth Catalog was -- in spades.

I first encountered it as the Next Whole Earth Catalog in the '80s -- and it was a mighty tome at that stage, perfect for leaving in the bathroom, or even on the coffee table, if you were the sort to leave extremely well-thumbed books there. It sure didn't fit on any shelves.

Everything from farm implements to Swiss Army Knives, Buckminster Fuller, computers, Buddhism, auto repair -- the Whole Earth Catalog had you covered, pointing to books, other catalogs, people and companies where you could get info on just about everything that mattered.

It was like Google, Yahoo! and Amazon rolled up into one big ball, before any of them -- or the Web which propagated them -- even existed.

Ironically, it's where I first heard about hypertext -- the idea that became the clickable, linkable Web. I found the book there to fix my old VWs, and another book that taught me how to convert a 79 Honda Civic into a camper (don't ask).

I don't know what happened to my Whole Earth Catalog ... but even in this Web-centric world, I have a pretty good feeling that it could succeed today as the supreme bullshit detector we all so desperately still need.