Even in a book as comprehensive as this, based on his access to Brand’s archives and to Brand himself, Markoff has trouble tracking this revolutionary thinker’s many changes of mind as he moved from a career in the military to photography to various startups, seeking to cope with the velocity of change by employing a slowed-down, organic way of thinking about the world.

... an illuminating biography that captures Mr. Brand’s rich and varied life.

At times, reading Whole Earth feels like being the sober person at a psychedelic party.

Markoff’s biography will likely be the last word on Brand for some time. His approach to his sources is vexing, however. He made heavy use of the thousands of pages of Brand’s papers archived at Stanford University for quotes like the ones above. However, because Whole Earth 'is not intended as a scholarly volume,' Markoff provides no footnotes. This is disappointing given the richness of the material he uncovered. Scholars hoping to understand the source or context of the scores of lively and intriguing quotes are condemned to tracking down the originals. The only positive outcome I can see is that a new cohort of scholars will be forced to rediscover Brand, and to fashion new narratives that complement or challenge Markoff’s.

Drawing on several dozen interviews with its subject over four years, Whole Earth comes across as something like a third-person memoir.

Markoff gives readers a well-researched account of Brand’s life.

Though at times repetitive...and stuffed with minutiae...Markoff’s telling of Brand’s strange and busy life is compelling—the book version of opening a time capsule filled with unexpected and one-of-a-kind items..

A sympathetic if overbusy picture of Stewart Brand.

An admiring portrait.