| Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature | 
 enlarge | Author: Janine M. Benyus
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $7.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 6467
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0060533226
Dewey Decimal Number: 577
EAN: 9780060533229
ASIN: 0060533226
Publication Date: September 1, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: A gently read copy (cover wear but UNMARKED inside). ** Choose EXPEDITED shipping to receive in 2-3 business days **
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Product Description
This profound and accessible book details how science is studying nature's best ideas to solve our toughest 21st–century problems. If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature – taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R\'9126D since the first bacteria. Biomimics study nature's best ideas: photosynthesis, brain power, and shells – and adapt them for human use. They are revolutionising how we invent, compute, heal ourselves, harness energy, repair the environment, and feed the world. Science writer and lecturer Janine Benyus names and explains this phenomenon. She takes us into the lab and out in the field with cutting–edge researchers as they stir vats of proteins to unleash their computing power; analyse how electrons zipping around a leaf cell convert sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when theyᱥ sick; study the hardy prairie as a model for low–maintenance agriculture; and more.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 36 more reviews...
 Fascinating topic, covered in the right amount of detail November 24, 2008
Overall, I loved this book. I appreciated it from a scientific innovation perspective and for its vision of how society could flourish in symbiosis with nature. There were several sections where I just couldn't put it down. For the most part the level of detail was just right, the science was well explained, and the writing was engaging. I found parts of the biological computation section less than satisfying (too much analogy, not enough specifics), but I might be biased because that topic was closest to my field and I probably wanted more gory detail than the average reader. Even that section, however, included plenty of references and food for thought so I really can't complain. I'm trying to make all of my friends and family read this book if that's any indication about how much I liked it.
 Book End for Zero Waste, Brilliant Introduction September 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
ON STRIKE UNTIL AMAZON STOPS DELETING FAVORABLE VOTES FROM FANS AND COUNTING NEGATIVE VOTES FROM THOSE WHO HATE THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE BOOK BEING REVIEWED MORE THAN THEY CARE ABOUT THE REVIEW.
I was introduced to this concept at BIONEERS, an annual event with satellite nodes convenient to all, and was just blown away. This book is a superb introduction to the common sense recognition that nature has over all the billions of years, figured out how to not only do stuff with energy efficiency, but also with a zero waste footprint.
Check out World Index for Social and Environmental Responsibility (WISER) for many other leads.
Other books that I recommend outside the standard ones that Amazon points to:
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
The Age of Missing Information
In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations
Getting to Zero Waste
High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty Years to Solve Them
The Future of Life
Biomimicry - innovation inspired by nature August 7, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
have as yet not read the book but will within the next few weeks as I travel abroad and have some quality time while traveling. Thank you for asking, Jan
Nature Revelation May 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is an exellent read that provides insightful commentary on the work of several leading scientists and communities. Our understanding of current industralized communities is explored, and the effects on nature are considered. Alternative solutions in various fields are investigated that allow people from all walks of life to connect with the messages in the book. The topics are structured in a easy to read and logical fashion that leads you through the discussion of redesigning our solutions for food, energy, materials, computing, bio-diversity, recycling, industry and co-habitation with nature in educative and highly engaging tone.
I love Janine's prose as it engenders a rich connection with nature, and the hope that we can change our systems towards a sustainable future. This book is an essential read for each one of us, and we can all learn to appreciate the true value of bio-diversity, and of conserving as much of it as we can, in its truest, unmaligned form.
I've been able to consider how I lead my life and the materials I am dependent upon. I hope to change my habits to better conserve the precious gifts that Nature has provided. I've come to appreciate the roots of our immense knowledge and lessons continually being learnt from Nature, and hope that we can continue to utilise this to create a happier future for generations to come.
 First impression March 24, 2008
I'm still reading through, but I was expecting less theory and more practical features/examples. I already had the general background and needed a methodology to put into practice. So far I haven't found it.
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