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Summary: Passionate and inspiring - another "Silent Spring"
Review: "Biomimicry : Innovation Inspired by Nature" is a beautiful book, written with real passion and a sense of wonder. The revolutionary nature of its message reminded me of "Silent Spring". Reading this book leaves you in awe at the perfection within the design of natural systems which science is only now beginning to understand.
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Summary: nonsensical environmental manifesto
Review: A book that purports to be about taking inspiration from nature for our inventions sounds like a scientific book about genetic engineering or nanotechnology. It's not. This book is really an environmental manifesto, taking "nature is good" as an axiom and going from there, to explain unpromising technologies that will allow us to be more like nature and live in harmony with the Earth. The pseudo-religious arguments presented for why we should do this are vacuous. It's just sort of assumed we all would rather make the required sacrifices to "be in harmony with mother earth". If that's your thing, this book is for you. Just don't make the mistake I did and buy something that you think has some scientific validity.
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Summary: Life transforming
Review: After reading this book, my perspective on the world and my hope for humans has changed radically. We do have a chance if we allow ourselves to be humble and to ask the natural world how we just might sustain ourselves. Absolutely eloquent writing. I actually understood the science!!
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Summary: Promising concepts but this book does not deliver
Review: As a few of the other reviews have pointed out, this book starts with some great ideas but does not provide many real answers. There are many anecdotes about quirky scientists, but few stories with actual success stories. The author's prose veers between fluffy new-age enviro-love letters and overly detailed technical descriptions of biological processes (that would have been better described using a few, clear diagrams). After reading the weak chapter on computer science (my area of study) with a suspicious eye, I question the accuracy of her other technical explanations.
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Summary: Stop and Think
Review: As I listened to Ms. Benyus speak passionately about Mother Nature's innovations at a meeting of energy executives, I said to myself, "You've got to read her book." I did. The book, in its clear readable style, was enjoyable and gave me a quick understanding of biomimicry - electicity generation modeled after green plants, pollution free chemical factories. Although Ms. Benyus' point of view is sometimes a bit radical for someone in a conservative, old line business, the book challenged me to stop and think about how we can innovate while being mindful of Mother Nature.
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Summary: Learning from the Genius of Nature
Review: Before even reviewing the book, it seems as though I must explain its raison de'etre; for some negative reviews disclaim the very import of looking to nature as a model for life. For starters, nature runs on sunlight and creates no waste. To me, this alone is reason enough to mimic nature, since our profligate energy use has caused a global eco-crisis. Not only does the combustion of fossil fuels pollute the air breathe (leading to some 3 million deaths from air pollution annually according to the WHO), but it also floods the atmosphere with CO2, leading culprit in the greenhouse effect. Moreover, being that the supply of crude oil is finite, the very foundation of our economy will one day run dry. Nature, on the other hand, runs on the unlimited bounty of sunlight. Unlimited clean energy is just one example of the genius of nature which author Benyus points out in this book. Nature does many other wonderful things we would do well to learn from. Arctic fish and frogs freeze solid and then spring to life, having protected their organs from ice damage. Black bears hibernate all winter without poisoning themselves on their urea, while their polar cousins stay active with a coat of transparent hollow hairs covering their skins like the panes of a greenhouse. Chameleons and cuttlefish hide without moving, changing the pattern of their skin to instantly blend with their surroundings. Bees, turtles, and birds navigate without maps, while whales and penguins dive without scuba gear. How do they do it? How do dragonflies outmaneuver our best helicopters? How do hummingbirds cross the Gulf of Mexico on less than one tenth of an ounce of fuel? How do ants carry the equivalent of hundreds of pounds in a dead heat through the jungle? How do muscles attach to rock in a wet environment? The answers to these questions may seem like trivia to non-expert, but "The difference between what life needs to do and what we need to do is another one of those boundaries that doesn't exist. Beyond mattes of scale, the differences dissolve." Like every other creature, humans cause a lot of commotion in the biosphere: creating, moving, and consuming. But our species is the only one that creates more waste than nature can safely and efficiently recycle. Ours is only one that ignores ecological limits, exceeds the carrying capacity of the land, and consumes more energy than nature can provide. The ideology that allowed us to expand beyond our limits was that the world -- never-ending in its bounty -- was put here exclusively for our use. But after the topsoil blows away, the oceans go lifeless, the oil wells go dry, and the air and water we depend on are utterly fouled, what will we do? Will we be able to survive? Unlike the impact of a car, is crisis is cumulative. The mounting effects of this ideology are rising temperatures, decreasing grain yields, rising cancer rates, falling fish harvests, dwindling forests, worsening air pollution, and rising oil and water prices. A most resilient creature, I believe we (or some of us) will survive this ecololgical "bottle-neck" squeeze, to use Harvard scientist E.O. Wilson's phrase. But the questions this book seeks to answer is, can we flourish? As mentioned by other reviewers, some parts were overly technical. However, much of it is written with the layperson in mind. Moreover, the book is rich in philosophy, like that of Wes Jackson, Bill Mollison, Masanobu Fukuoka, and writers Thomas and Wendell Berry (unrelated). And the main point of the book is simple enough for a child to understand. Does it run on sunlight? Does it use only the energy it needs? Does it fit form to function? Does it recycle everything? Does it reward cooperation? Does it bank on diversity? Does it utilize local expertise? Does it curb excess from within? Does it tap the power of limits? And is it beautiful? In order to right our wasteful and dangerously dysfunctional relationship with nature, these ten questions should serve as guiding principles for design and human interaction. Although some of the science is now dated (e.g., hydrogen fuel cells are now a reality), this book will remain pregnant with philosophical and practical insights for years to come. It is far, far ahead of the times. My only criticism is that, much of the scientific history and intrastructure this book depends on actually helped create the eco-predicament we currently find ourselves in. The labratories she visits (not to mention the cars she uses to visit them) are not exactly eco-friendly. In other words, the author supposes more technology and "progres" will eventually help us out of this predicament. This book is a landmark - and one hell of a good read. Dssential for anyone interested business, philosophy, ecology, science or engineering. And when combined with other books, like Lester Brown's ECO-ECONOMY, David Korten's WHEN CORPORATIONS RULE THE WORLD, Paul Hawkins' NATURAL CAPITALSIM, Hildur Jackson and Karen Svensson's ECOVILLAGE LIVING, and perhaps something on eco-education, it would fit well into my dream eco-philosophy course. Unfortunately, I'm not a teacher and very few universities have funding for such programs anyway.
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Summary: A Vital Message about Human Consumption Patterns
Review: Benyus has the difficult task of compiling worldwide innovations in science and development to show how organic processes can be modeled for new inventions, products and services. By literally mimicking natural processes, new scientists are attempting to develop healthier systems of production so that old methods of extracting resources, manipulating them, using them and then throwing the waste back into the biosphere, becomes obsolete. Cheers to her and her colleagues, with hope to this emerging field. Without it, humans are certainly on a shortsighted path.
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Summary: Enlightening. The human race may have a chance after all
Review: Biomimicry gives an insight into where future technology could take us without getting too technical on it's explainations. Benyus takes us into a variety of different natural world arenas and shows us how scientists are working to use millions of years of evolution in our everyday lives. Mother Nature is a smart cookie. We all should listen.
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Summary: Biomimicry
Review: Biomimicry is an awesome book about how we as humans should mimic nature. In this book the author ( Jannine M. Benyus ) shows the reader how to go about doing everyday things using nature. Jannine answers the questions how will we feed ourselves ?, how will we harness energy ?, how will we make things ?, how will we heal ourselves ?, how will we store what we learn ?, how will we conduct business ?, and where will we go from here? Biomimicry (from the Greek bios meaning life and mimesis meaning imitation) is the search for innovation inspired by nature. Through out the book Jannine takes the reader into various labs with different specialists and even into her own backyard. She talks with the specialists about how chimps medicate themselves by finding a certain plant, how bivalves called Mytilus edulis can make a polymer that sticks better than any of our adhesives, how spider silk is waterproof and five times stronger than steel, etc. These facts she digs up are amazing. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the human future, in learning how to use nature to build better pharmaceutical drugs, or to anyone who has an interest in nature.
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Summary: Misleading title- propaganda heavy, content light
Review: Halfway finished, I am putting this book down. It's very rare that I don't finish a book. If you have a strong science background, you will be very disappointed in what this book has to offer. The alleged topic is fascinating, and I think I will go find a book that really discusses it. The photosynthesis chapter screams for pictures and diagrams, but the author has provided none. The reader will read thousands clumsy words trying to describe complex geometries, waiting for a clarifying picture that never comes.
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