This book explores the world of bio-inspiration, how technology can learn from nature. Peter Forbes is a poetry editor and quotes poetry throughout the book, in an illuminating way. He is also a beautiful writer and makes the complex scientific concepts in the book seem easily understandable without ever dumbing down.
The book is full of amazing facts about the natural world, including spider silk, the colours of butterfly wings and leaf unfurling and also reveals the secrets of how stealth bombers can evade radar and how people can lie on bed of nails. It also talks about technologies that have been inspired by nature including bridge building and irridescent fabrics. It also looks intelligently at the controversial world of nano-technology, outlining the potential benefits and pitfalls inherent in this discipline and maintaining a quiet scepticism about nano-robots.
It is rare to find a book that is such a wonderful synthesis of biology and physics let alone of art and design and science.
The Gecko's Foot by Peter Forbes
6 comments:
Sounds interesting. Thanks
Methinks must have it. Ta, very much!
Sounds like a great book! Nature's amazing.. there's so much we can learn from it.
Sounds good. I'll look into it, thanks. Ciao. A.
Just added this one to my request list at the library.
This sounds fascinating. I'll look for it. Must be on Amazon. Everything else is!
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