Paperback in color

"This is the origins story on one of the most exciting human experiments on Earth. Astonishingly it has become more important with each passing year as what was first branded an "alternative" experiment has been shown to be way ahead of its time, exploring circular systems of growing where the waste of one becomes the feedstock of another and how the whole is interconnected with all its parts. I have had the privilege of knowing Mark and the other pioneers for many years and they influenced me greatly in their zeal to put applied science into action. Read this book and wonder whether you are looking at our hopeful future. I know for sure when Buckminster Fuller wrote 'An operating manual for spaceship Earth' he was thinking of projects just like this, and people just like this.
It is a supremely hopeful book about human capacity to dream and deliver. I know that a hindered years from now people will be talking about this with awe."

• Sir Tim Smit, founder, Eden Project, Cornwall, UK

If kids today knew what they were missing, in terms of real life adventures, projects and encounters such as those biospherian Mark Nelson describes here, they would eat their phones. Chronicling an era of exploration at the intersection of the arts and planetary sciences (c.1960-1990) Nelson brings his signature warmth and humour to everything from pataphysical theater to waste water management. Resounding with knowledge and love for the intricate workings and generosity of our planet, Irrationals Hoping for the Impossible is valuable as both an historical document and guide to a more egalitarian and environmentally creative future.

• Maria Golia, writer, author "Ornette Coleman: the Territory and the Adventure"

"I have been amazed by the importance and success of the Institute of Ecotechnics projects. This book offers a wonderful history of where and how it all began."

• Ralph Abraham, an originator of chaos theory, Prof. of Mathematics, University of California, Santa Cruz.

In this exciting and revelatory book, Mark Nelson describes the early years of Synergia Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico which led to the founding of the Institute of Ecotechnics and which started the historical development of cutting edge projects around the world including the Biosphere 2 facility in Arizona.
The story captures the wild exuberance, and the highs and lows, of a group of young people determined to realize their personal dreams and to start new ventures to help regenerate the planet - starting with a big challenge: severely degraded rangeland in the high semi-desert of New Mexico.

Determined to "Dare to Dream," and even more important: "Dream No Small Dream," they get to work, in some cases starting from near square zero. Can they survive the inevitable personality frictions and power struggles and create a new type of community from such diverse and creative people? Would their goal of finding ways to live a balanced and synergetic life, doing ecological restoration, starting enterprises and producing theater, be possible and economically viable? Is it possible to get fully engaged in ambitious endeavours and do inner work to realize your individual potentialities?

Born in the Haight-Ashbury ferment of the 1960s, the core group now finds itself on 160 acres (60 hectares) of land considered near worthless. In this book, you will follow their daunting learning curve, replete with screw-ups and breakthroughs, as they begin to make adobe bricks and build houses and workshops, plant trees and grow food, doing virtually everything themselves. Why? Well, for starters, they simply didn't have the money to hire professional "experts."