Rating: 
Summary: More of a rave about unsustainability than about biomimicry
Review: The purported subject of this book is facinating, however most of the book seems to be about something else. The author lectures about current poor ecological practices (which were "news" about ten years ago). I found very little in this book regarding actual progress in technologies that were inspired by biological systems. Rather disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Science marred by Silly Thoughts
Review: The Vancouver Sun says Benyus "Writes like an angel." That scared me. But they were right.Unfortunately, it's not one of those no-nonsense Biblical angels. She writes like one of those daffy, dewey-eyed, diapered, dinky-winged ones instead. Let me clarify. The science described in this book is interesting. This is where the author is at her best. However, she wanted to seem like a deep thinker, too, and that's where she founders into New-Age-like poofiness, seasoned with ecological alarmism. But you want specifics. "... [l]ife has learned to fly, circumnavigate the globe, live in the depths of the ocean ... lasso the sun's energy ... in short ... everything we want to do, without guzzling fossil fuel, polluting the planet, or mortgaging their future." Sorry, sis, nature doesn't move hundreds of 120-lb passengers at a time along with their luggage, or make trips to the moon, or produce supercomputers. Our sights, for better or worse, are higher, and so are our needs. "Virtually all native cultures that have survived without fouling their nests have acknowledged that nature knows best, and have had the humility to ask the bears and wolves and ravens and redwoods for guidance. They can only wonder why we don't do the same." Perhaps she hasn't heard how native Americans would decimate thousands of buffalo at a time, or burn trees for after-dinner entertainment, or basically slash-and-burn their way through nature. Nature knows best? How silly can you get? Does that include the violent killing of prey, volcanoes, tidal waves, disease? And why should Nature "know" anything? "We humans regard limits as a universal dare ... other Earthlings take their limits more seriously, knowing they must function within a tight range of life-friendly temperatures, harvest within the carrying capacity of the land, and maintain an energy balance that cannot be borrowed against." More idiocy. Other organisms know nothing of the sort. They merely function as programmed, reacting to situations by instinct, blissfully ignorant of all these issues. Unless she's talking about Disneyworld, which seems to be where her mind is when not describing biological marvels. "Who's to say we won't simply steal nature's thunder and use it in the ongoing campaign against life? ... This is not an idle worry. The last really famous biomimetic invention was the airplane ... by 1914, we were dropping bombs from the sky." The silliness goes on and on, believe me. Doesn't she understand that anything can be used as a weapon? Are we to stop making chairs and tables? Even then, nature-made rocks are handy. She quotes an organic farmer: "The native peoples ... worshipped the Earth; they were educated by it. They didn't require schools and churches - their whole world was one." Well, maybe that's why they regularly slaughtered and mutilated one another, missy. Did she get all her history from "Dances with Wolves?" She throws in some latin here and there to reinforce her intellectual image, but it just seems pretentious. The rest of the book is interesting but somehow spoiled by her nauseating pretensions to philosophizing. Unfortunately she starts out with a rather boring (to me) topic - biomimicry in farming. But it gets better - she goes on to harnessing solar power, making wondrous materials, and so on. She does this quite well, and it's too bad she didn't stick to this. Also, unfortunately, she has been caught up in the assumption that nature is in a state that is "just right" - related to the "nature knows best" myth - that is the most puzzling belief of environmental alarmists. Why should it be? Supposedly nature is continually evolving - species here today, if unfit, should simply be gone tomorrow, nary a second thought. But she doesn't grasp this, although she says at the beginning, "failures are fossils." If you can stomach this kind of naive psychobabble, you'll marvel at the ingenuity and complexity of nature ... in this way, this book is a good companion to "Darwin's Black Box."
Rating: 
Summary: A fasinating new paradigm for science.
Review: The way of thinking about the Earth in Western culture has been, "Take what we want from Earth; make things with toxic side-effects, farm the land to death, pretend there is an ever-extending horizon to be used once an area is exhausted and polluted by us and so on." The basic thesis of the book is that this old paradigm is fatally wrong. It will lead us to the destruction of Earth and ourselves. Instead, we must learn to copy nature's (specifically biology's) designs and use them. The author looks at agriculture, computing, power, medicine etc... There were interesting accounts of the conversations the author had with numerous scientists that are investigating life's designs (whether it be the process of photosynthesis or the adhesive mollusks use). Some of them are detailed investigators, while others are creative people who can fathom future applications of the discoveries and imagine possible models and theories to explain the biology. Overall, I found the book quite interesting. The technical level of certain passages (e.g. the chemical process by which photosynthesis functions) was difficult for me to understand and I imagine the lay, non-specialist reader would find that material challenging (and possibly boring). However, there are projections of possible technologies scattered all about the book (e.g. a protein-based data storage device the size of a 5.25 inch disk with a storage capacity, theoretically speaking, of 200,000 GB). I have two basic problems with the book however; the occasional drift towards nature worship and the uncritical references to macro-evolution (e.g. change from one species to another species) as having produced everything in nature. In places, Benyus seems talk about nature as if it were a conscious living entity that has God-like qualities. For example, on the last page she says, "... similar to the Mohawk prayer spoken by a midwife at the moment of birth, 'Thank You, Earth. You know the way.' Although the scientists and innovators I met might be hesitant to phrase it this way, it could just as easily be their journeying song." Or in a personal story which she ends with this post script, "The preparation for this echoing was a quieting on my part, a silencing of my own cleverness long enough to turn to nature for advice." Evolution consistently gets the credit for basically deigning magnificent pieces of nature. Also, evolution gets the credit for designing a stable eco-system (where thousands or millions of species live together in sustainable way); no small feat. Lest you think that I am some fool for criticizing macro-evolution, consult my, "About me," area. Overall, the book is very interesting in its ideas and its investigation of nature. It is also a return of one of the primary ideas of science: observation.
Rating:
Summary: Good subject but poor content
Review: This book deals with an interesting concept which is 'biomimicry'. In summary, it says that Mother Earth offers many models on which we can base our innovation/creation. But the book is not so easy to read and not so well planned. I skip many parts which in my sense go to deep in details and some parts are a bit repeatitive. The book is quite large but offers only few interesting ideas that are then developed and so detailed to an end which you don't remember the purpose. Some parts don't have a conclusion so you finish the chapter quite frustrated because you have read a big technical part and uoi don't see what was the point the author wanted to demonstrate. If you are interested in technical sciences then you might like it but otherwise, the ideas on biomimicry in this book could be summarize in a more compact book.
Rating: 
Summary: An important book to read...
Review: This book is a brilliant study of how nature solves complex problems in everyday life and how by observing and mimicking these solutions, we can address core challenges of sustainability. Biomimicry offers a way of thinking that could inspire many of the innovations necessary to become restorative as a society. Fundamental to the message is "shifting the focus from what we can extract from nature to what we can learn from her, thus making the rationale for protecting wild species and their habitats self-evident." As a reader with a passion for sustainability, but minimal background in biology, I found the content to be clear, accessible and rich with humor. Benyus has a delightful writing style that touched my heart and my mind.
Rating:
Summary: Overzealous and poorly planned
Review: When I bought this book I had high hopes for what I would be reading. I thought this book would give many examples of varied uses (and future uses) of biological processes. This book should have been a description of what new and exciting developments are occurring in biology, and how these are being applied to make environmentally friendly alternatives to current technology. What the reader gets is an extremely enthusiastic, repetitive description of one paradigm per chapter. The descriptions are poorly planned however, as they contain too much jargon for the non-specialist reader, and not enough details for a science-educated reader. Many of the descriptions make it clear that the author never understood what she was writing about. Her enthusiasm is admirable, but it translates into extremely long-winded rants. I look forward to a good book written on this topic. This one isn't it.
Rating:
Summary: Inspires us to look to nature for solutions to our problems
Review: Where can we find the best solutions to the many technical, environmental, social and economic problems that beset us? In this wonderful book Benyus shows us that nature can teach us valuable lessons. "In the 3.8 billion years since the first bacteria, life has learned to fly, circumnavigate the globe, live in the depths of the ocean and atop the highest peaks, craft miracle materials, light up the night, lassoo the sun's energy, and build a self-reflective brain...living things have done everything we want to do, without guzzling fossil fuel, polluting the planet, or mortgaging their future. What better models could there be?" By adopting a little humility and treating nature as a model, a measure, and a mentor, she argues, we can catch up on the lessons nature has had millions of years to learn. Benyus writes like an angel, her prose conjuring vivid images as she takes us with her on a journey to explore what Biomimics are doing in material science, medicine, computing, energy, agriculture, and business. Her journalistic style does not shrink from the intricacies of photosynthesis and relishes the wonders of mussel tethering techniques, but always keeps the wider picture in view. I found myself wanting to push the fast-forward button - to the time when prarie-style agriculture is widely adopted; materials are made at room-temperature in life-friendly conditions with no toxicity; and our economy is modelled on a rainforest, not a ragweed. Readers of this book could be those who will help get us there faster. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Realistic, innovative solutions for a sustainable world
Review: With the eloquence of an angel, Janine Benyus captures and describes the rapidly emerging field of biomimicry. In this beautifully written "seed of hope", Janine reveals how Nature--in her complexity and intricacy--can provide the innovative solutions we as a society desperately seek as we strive for sustainability. Through clear, clever, and enjoyable writing, Janine tackles difficult scientific information and presents it in a manner digestible to even those that fear science! The book is full of wonderful examples ranging from biomimetic materials to agricultural systems to pharmaceuticals to industrial ecology. After reading this book, I can no longer look at the natural world in the same way. With over 3.8 billion years of research and at least 30 million case studies, Nature probably has the answer we are looking for. Every roadblock presented to me is now countered with the following question: "What would Nature do if she had to tackle the same problem?" As a biologist and a business person, I'm finding that the two have more in common that I previously thought. This book is on my number one list for life. I find myself carrying my page worn copy everywhere I go just so I can recommend it to everyone, including strangers! This book gives me hope for our society. If we can learn to look towards Nature as model, measure, and mentor, we might just stand a chance.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic, innovative solutions for a sustainable world
Review: With the eloquence of an angel, Janine Benyus captures and describes the rapidly emerging field of biomimicry. In this beautifully written "seed of hope", Janine reveals how Nature--in her complexity and intricacy--can provide the innovative solutions we as a society desperately seek as we strive for sustainability. Through clear, clever, and enjoyable writing, Janine tackles difficult scientific information and presents it in a manner digestible to even those that fear science! The book is full of wonderful examples ranging from biomimetic materials to agricultural systems to pharmaceuticals to industrial ecology. After reading this book, I can no longer look at the natural world in the same way. With over 3.8 billion years of research and at least 30 million case studies, Nature probably has the answer we are looking for. Every roadblock presented to me is now countered with the following question: "What would Nature do if she had to tackle the same problem?" As a biologist and a business person, I'm finding that the two have more in common that I previously thought. This book is on my number one list for life. I find myself carrying my page worn copy everywhere I go just so I can recommend it to everyone, including strangers! This book gives me hope for our society. If we can learn to look towards Nature as model, measure, and mentor, we might just stand a chance.
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