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Tribal Messenger solar serialization

confidence: high volatility: cold

From March through October 1973, Steve Baer serialized a book on solar energy in the Tribal Messenger, a small local newsletter. Each issue carried a chapter, and the companion tribal-notes pages cont

From March through October 1973, Steve Baer serialized a book on solar energy in the Tribal Messenger, a small local newsletter. Each issue carried a chapter, and the companion tribal-notes pages contain the technical figures, calculations, and diagrams that accompanied the text. Together, the 49 files form the earliest extended writing in the archive.

How the serialization began

Baer introduced the project in the March 26, 1973 issue with a “Dear readers” letter. Skip, the editor, had asked if someone at Zomeworks — perhaps Gary Chahroudi — would write a technical piece. Baer volunteered and immediately saw a bigger scheme: serialize a solar energy book, one chapter per issue, as “an informal first draft” that could later be revised and published.

I don’t have the time, ability or the patience to write really good books. I offer as evidence the two books I have written — Dome Cookbook and Zome Primer. But still who wouldn’t like to think of himself as an author? Besides — look at the kind of stuff people read. So why not? Skip is for it, and he is the editor. And if the pieces I write are not for you — well, it isn’t as if we sold you a roof that leaked or a car with a bad transmission.

The first technical chapter was promised for the next issue: “Acquaintance with energy units.”

Topics covered by issue

DateMessenger topicNotes pages
1973-03-12Cover page (image scan)—
1973-03-26Introduction — solar book announcementpg5, pg5a–pg5e
1973-04-02Energy in a car crash — kinetic vs thermal energy—
1973-04-13Government grants, sun radiation, orbitpg6
1973-04-30Day Chahrohdi contributionpg9, pg10, pg11
1973-05-14Heat exchangers — junkyards as classroompg12, pg13
1973-05-28Liquid-liquid heat exchangers, counterflowpg14, pg15, pg16
1973-06-13Temperature fluctuation, thermostat critique, mammals vs reptilespg17, pg18
1973-07-24Flat plate collectors — non-focusing heat collectorspg19, pg20
1973-08-08Heat conduction, collector morning warmup, gap lossespg21, pg22, pg23
1973-08-22Free view — Drop City anecdote, Fisher’s Peakpg24, pg26
1973-09-05Rock storage bins — air circulation, shallow vs deep binspg25
1973-09-26(image-only scan)pg27, pg28
1973-10-10Bubble pumps, immiscible liquids, condensers, solar cellspg29
1973-10-31Bubble wheel, A.D. Little orbital satellite critiquepg30

Key ideas from the extractable text

  • Energy intuition: Baer starts from everyday physics (car crashes, junkyards) to build intuition about BTUs, heat flow, and temperature differences.
  • Heat exchangers: Several issues tour junkyard heat exchangers as physical education — the reader learns by handling discarded radiators, condensers, and counterflow devices.
  • Thermostat critique: The June issue argues that thermostats make mammals behave like reptiles — outsourcing temperature regulation that the body already handles.
  • Flat plate collectors: Baer explains collector physics from first principles — plate temperature, pipe spacing, glazing losses, and morning warmup time.
  • Rock storage: The September issue describes convection loops through rock bins, preferring shallow pancake bins over tall columns.
  • Bubble engines: The October issues describe low-temperature-difference engines using immiscible liquid pairs and buoyant bubbles — a theme that reappears in later thermosiphon work.
  • Government critique: Baer consistently questions government grants to universities and industry, comparing them to Ford studying Chevrolets.

Why it matters

accessible writing + junkyard education + first-principles physics = archive seedbed

The serialization is where most of the archive’s later ideas first appear in rough form. Flat plate collectors, rock storage, heat exchangers, bubble engines, and the suspicion of institutional solar programs all start here. The tone — informal, opinionated, rooted in physical objects — sets the style for every later Baer document in the archive.

Many of the tribal-notes pages are image-only scans containing hand-drawn figures and calculations. Visual inspection would recover additional technical detail.

See also