Intuition (ekphrasis)

Intuition by R. Buckminster Fuller is a profound and visionary exploration of how humanity can think, design, and act more intelligently in service of the whole planet.

In this concise yet powerful work, Buckminster Fuller—renowned inventor, futurist, and creator of the geodesic dome—contends that intuition is not the opposite of logic, but rather its highest expression. Drawing on decades of experience as a systems thinker, Fuller examines how intuitive insight allows humans to grasp complex, interconnected realities that linear thinking alone cannot fully explain.

Named for Fuller’s sailboat and written in 1968, Intuition takes the form of a book-length poem—now brought back into print as part of David Zwirner Books’s beloved ekphrasis series. The text is a uniquely metaphysical addition to Fuller’s oeuvre, presenting a new side to the prolific theorist. An introduction by literary scholar Anahid Nersessian explores the text from a poetics perspective, drawing out the effects of the verse.

This book is both a meditation and a call to action, inviting readers to trust deeper patterns of understanding while remaining rigorously engaged with evidence and reason; this deeply humanist vision is especially urgent in contemporary times. Essential reading for architects, designers, thinkers, and anyone interested in sustainability, systems theory, or visionary thought, Intuition offers timeless insight into how humans can do “more with less” and navigate an increasingly complex world.

As part of the ekphrasis series, Intuition continues the exploration of how language and form can render complex, abstract ideas vividly in the mind, bridging thought and perception in the same spirit that the series brings visual and literary experience into dialogue.

Hailed as one of the greatest minds of our times, R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) was renowned for his comprehensive perspective on the world’s problems. For more than five decades, he developed pioneering solutions that reflected his commitment to the potential of innovative design to create technology that does “more with less” and thereby improves human lives. An architect, systems theorist, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist, Fuller published more than thirty volumes across various fields and was awarded 28 US patents.

Anahid Nersessian is a writer living in Los Angeles. She is the author of three books, the most recent of which is Keats's Odes: A Lover's Discourse. Her essays and reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Bookforum, The London Review of Books, Mousse, Bidoun, and elsewhere. She is a professor of English at University of California, Los Angeles.