references · updated 2026-06-30
Bibliography
confidence: high volatility: cold verified: 2026-06-30fresh
Books and articles by Steve Baer, and key works cited by him across the archive.
Books and articles by Steve Baer, and key works cited by him across the archive.
Books by Steve Baer
| Title | Publisher | Year | Archive status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dome Cookbook | Lama Foundation, Corrales, NM (cookbook fund) | 1968 (first printing); 1969 (third printing); price $1.00 | Ingested (2nd printing scan, 44pp) — see sidecar; “today’s terrifying man made world” |
| Flow Shot 1 | cookbook fund - Lama Foundation | ~1968 | Confirmed published; not in archive. Listed on Dome Cookbook cover as co-published. |
| Sol Shot 1 | cookbook fund - Lama Foundation | ~1968 | Confirmed published; poster in possession, pending ingest. Listed on Dome Cookbook cover. “Sol” likely = solar — if so, Baer’s earliest solar publication, predating Sunspots (1975) by ~7 years. |
| Zome Primer: Elements of Zonohedra Geometry | Zomeworks Corporation | 1970 | Ingested — see Zome |
| Sunspots: Collected Facts and Solar Fiction | Zomeworks Corporation | 1975 | Ingested (1975 ed.) — see Sunspots, Skylid, DrumWall |
| Sunspots: An Exploration of Solar Energy Through Fact and Fiction | Cloudburst Press | 1979 (ISBN 0-88930-061-3, 127pp) | In collection, not yet ingested. 19pp shorter than the 1977 Zomeworks printing (146pp) — content differences unknown until compared. Nick Pine’s 1995 Usenet post quotes pp. 62–66 on Air Loop Rock Storage Systems. |
| More Sunspots | Zomeworks Corporation | 2012 (ISBN 978-0-9883270-0-9) | Not in archive; cover image ingested (raw-sources/9780988327009-us.jpg) |
| Solar energy serialization (untitled) | Tribal Messenger newsletter | 1973 | Ingested (49 files) — see Tribal Messenger solar serialization |
Baer introduced the 1973 serialization as “an informal first draft” of a solar book — whether it was ever published in book form is unknown from the archive.
Articles and essays by Baer
| Title | Publication | Date | Archive status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ”Gravity Engines and the Diving Engine” | Coevolution Quarterly, pp. 80-87 | Summer 1974 | Not in archive |
| Sunmen | Zomeworks (pamphlet) | May 2004 | Ingested — see Sunmen |
| “Tax, Shine, and Sunshine” | — | ~2000 | Ingested — see Tax, shine, and sunshine |
| “Sunny Days Ahead!” | — | July 2000 | Ingested — see Sunny days ahead |
| “CO₂ and Global Warming” | — | June 2000 | Ingested — see Sunny days ahead |
| “To irrigate we should pump our rivers over again” | Corrales Comment | July 8, 2000 | Ingested — see Corrales Comment |
| “Consider Perihelion” | Zomeworks | January 4, 2004 | Ingested — see Consider perihelion |
| “Unglazed Solar Collectors for Solar Water Heaters” | Zomeworks SunPaper | March 2003 | Ingested — see Unglazed solar collectors |
Articles and essays — supplemental
| Title | Publication | Date | Archive status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ”Cooling with Night Air” | SUNPAPER (solar newsletter) | January 1984 | Ingested — see cooling with night air sidecar; Baer House temp data Aug 1983; U₀ ventilation theory; LASL critique |
| ”Concentrating Skylights, Insulation and Ventilation” | Home Remedies, Mid Atlantic Solar Energy Association | 1980 | Not in archive; cited in 1984 SUNPAPER essay |
Pending ingest
Sol Shot 1 — poster in possession, not yet scanned. Published by the cookbook fund / Lama Foundation network, listed on the Dome Cookbook cover as co-published. If “Sol” = solar, this would be Baer’s earliest solar publication (~1968), predating the Tribal Messenger serialization (1973) and Sunspots (1975) by years. May contain early solar heating ideas concurrent with the closing note in Dome Cookbook: “I am working on heating and cooling systems — so far without much luck.”
Flow Shot 1 — confirmed published by the same fund; not in archive and no copy known to be in possession.
Key books about Baer
| Title | Author/Editor | Publisher | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activism in Architecture: Bright Dreams of Passive Energy Design | eds. Margot McDonald & Carolina Dayer | Routledge | 2018 | ISBN 978-1-138-74143-0. Chapter 4, “Harold Hay’s influence and the Zomeworks Corporation,” authored by Steve Baer — primary source on the Hay→Zomeworks connection. Also ch. 12 on Hay’s roof pond in cold climates; ch. 15 on resilience as driver of passive design. |
| Steve Baer and the double-play thermosiphon | Cem S. Kayatekin | ICON: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology | 2025 | Academic paper establishing the Baer House as origin of a broadly overlooked chapter of American engineering history. Ingested — see compiled page. |
Key context books (not by or about Baer)
| Title | Author | Publisher | Year | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Use of the Sun’s Energy | Farrington Daniels | Yale University Press | 1964 (3rd printing 1971) | ISBN 0-300-0399-4. Canonical pre-oil-crisis solar science survey. Ch. 8.4 Water Ponds predates Hay’s Skytherm by 3 years. Ch. 12 Selective Radiation Surfaces. Ch. 13 Cooling. In archive — ch. content pending ingest. |
| Passive Solar Handbook, Vols. I–III | Architectural Energy Corp. (Holtz) | USAF Engineering Directorate | c. 1985 | 3-volume set in archive. Vol. I: Introduction (11 concepts; passive cooling = air-based NMV/NVN only). Vol. II: Comprehensive Planning Guide (energy data tables, 18 building types, multiple climate regions). Vol. III: Programming Guide (21pp; DD Form 1391 and facility document procedures). No Hay/Baer/Zomeworks in any volume. Documents the institutional mainstream that defined “passive cooling” as ventilation, not night-sky radiation. |
Solar Fools reading list — key titles not yet in archive
Sourced from https://wiki.solarfool.org/en/reading_list (2026-05-14). Items marked ✅ are in archive; others are candidates for future ingest.
| Title | Author | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Solar Home Book: Heating, Cooling and Designing with the Sun | Bruce Anderson & Michael Riordan | 1976 | Contextualizes Baer within broader passive solar movement. Cheshire Books. |
| A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology | Ken Butti & John Perlin | 1980 | Historical context for Baer’s innovations. In Joule Heist (289pp, ISBN 978-0-917352-07-2). |
| Soft Energy Paths: Toward a Durable Peace | Amory Lovins | 1977 | Complements Baer’s philosophy. Also in LBL AET library. In Joule Heist (240pp, ISBN 978-0-060906-53-5). |
| The Passive Solar Energy Book | Edward Mazria | 1979 | ISBN 978-0-878572-38-0. Also in USAF handbook suggested reading. In Joule Heist (687pp — expanded professional ed.). |
| Passive Solar Design Handbook (Vols. I–III) | J. Douglas Balcomb et al. | 1980–84 | U.S. Dept. of Energy / Los Alamos National Laboratory. The definitive technical reference; became industry standard. Different from the USAF handbook. Vol. 3 in Joule Heist (668pp, ISBN 978-0-895531-06-3, pub. American Solar Energy Society, 1983). |
| Passive Solar Architecture: Heating, Cooling, Ventilation, Daylighting and More Using Natural Flows | David Bainbridge & Ken Haggard | — | Bainbridge co-founded Passive Solar Institute. Haggard co-founded NMSEA with Baer and Van Dresser (1972). |
| Passive Solar House Basics | Peter Van Dresser | — | ISBN 978-0-941270-90-8. NM pioneer; built first passive solar houses in NM in 1950s. In Joule Heist. |
| A Landscape for Humans | Peter Van Dresser | 1976 | 128pp, ISBN 978-0-890160-05-3. Sustainable living and appropriate technology in NM. In Joule Heist. |
| Homegrown Sundwellings | Peter Van Dresser | 1977 | 135pp, ISBN 978-0-890160-33-6. Passive solar house design in NM. In Joule Heist. |
| The Solar Home Book: Heating, Cooling and Designing with the Sun | Bruce Anderson & Michael Riordan | 1976 | 297pp, ISBN 978-0-917352-01-0. Contextualizes Baer in broader passive solar movement. In Joule Heist. |
| Natural Solar Architecture: The Passive Solar Primer | David Wright | 1984 | 272pp, ISBN 978-0-442293-65-9. In Joule Heist (2 copies). |
| Super Solar Houses | William A. Shurcliff | 1983 | 140pp, ISBN 978-0-931790-48-5. In Joule Heist. Not otherwise in wiki. |
| ”Zome Geometry” | George W. Hart & Henri Picciotto | — | Expands on mathematical principles of Baer’s structural designs; intersects with Zometool/Paul Hildebrandt. |
| Drop City | Peter Rabbit (Peter Douthit) | 1971 | First-person account of Drop City commune by a member; Olympia Press. Peter Rabbit is named in the Drop City documentary (c. 2002) as a Libre commune member at Richert’s wedding. Physical copy in possession (2026-05-21) — pending ingest. |
| Domebook One | Lloyd Kahn | 1970 | Whole Earth Catalog era; features Drop City. Also in LBL AET library. |
| Domebook 2 | Lloyd Kahn | 1971 | 160,000 copies before pulled. |
| Shelter | Lloyd Kahn & Bob Easton | 1973 | ”Domebook 3” — global vernacular building. In Joule Heist (176pp, ISBN 978-0-936070-11-7). |
| ”Living Off the Grid with Steve Baer” | — | Mother Earth News, 1970s | Documents Baer’s Zomeworks compound. Priority pending ingest. |
Key books cited by Baer
On solar and thermal engineering
| Work | Author | Publisher | Year | Where cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How Buildings Work | Ed Allen | Oxford University Press | 1995 | Di-thermal roofs (ceiling vs floor radiant systems) |
| Sun, Earth, Time and Man | Harrison | Rand McNally | 1960 | Antarctic heat collector |
| Solar Radiation (ed.) | N. Robinson | Elsevier | — | Antarctic heat collector |
| Atmospheres | Goody & Walker | Prentice-Hall | — | Antarctic heat collector (climates of other planets) |
| Energy and Society | Fred Cottrell | McGraw-Hill | 1955 | Sunspots Ch. 2 |
| Dimensional Analysis | P.W. Bridgeman | Yale Press | 1922 | Sunspots Ch. 2 |
| ”Diurnal Radiant Exchange with the Sky Dome” | Cramer & Newbauer | Solar Energy Journal Vol. 9 #1 | 1964 | Cool Cell work leading up (roofs vs walls) |
| “The Wig-Wag” | Hugh W. Brodie | Solar Energy Journal Vol. 9 No. 1 | 1965 | Skylid (Franklin pulse-glass prior use) |
| “Use of Latent Energy of Vaporization in Energy Reservoirs” | R.C. Hall | Solar Energy Journal Vol. 8 No. 3 | 1964 | Skylid driving canisters |
On geometry and mathematics (from Zome Primer)
| Work | Author | Publisher | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Polytopes | H.S.M. Coxeter | Macmillan | 1948/1963 |
| Mathematical Models | Cundy & Rollett | Oxford | 1951/1961 |
| Geometry and the Imagination | Hilbert & Cohn-Vossen | Chelsea | 1952 |
| Space Grid Structures | John Borrego | MIT Press | 1968 |
| The Turning Point of Building | Konrad Wachsmann | Reinhold | 1961 |
| On Growth and Form | D’Arcy Thompson | Cambridge | 1942/1963 |
| Fibonacci and Lucas Numbers | Hoggatt | Houghton Mifflin | 1969 |
| Soap Bubbles | C.V. Boy | Dover Press | — |
| Patterns in Nature | Peter Steven | Little, Brown | — |