What do you think?
Rate this book
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature
Repackaged with a new afterword, this "valuable and entertaining" ( New York Times Book Review ) book explores how scientists are adapting nature's best ideas to solve tough 21st century problems. Biomimicry is rapidly transforming life on earth. Biomimics study nature's most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world. Janine Benyus takes readers into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; learn how to create by watching spiders weave fibers; harness energy by examining how a leaf converts sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; and many more examples. Composed of stories of vision and invention, personalities and pipe dreams, Biomimicry is must reading for anyone interested in the shape of our future.
308 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 1997
About the author
Janine M. Benyus
20 books83 followersJanine M. Benyus is an American natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author.
Benyus graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University with degrees in natural resource management and english literature/writing. Benyus teaches interpretive writing, lectures at the University of Montana, and works towards restoring and protecting wild lands. She serves on a number of land use committees in her rural county, and is president of Living Education, a nonprofit dedicated to place-based living and learning.
Biomimicry
Benyus has authored six books on biomimicry, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In this book she develops the basic thesis that human beings should consciously emulate nature's genius in their designs.
In 1998, Benyus co-founded the Biomimicry Guild, the Innovation Consultancy, which helps innovators learn from and emulate natural models in order to design sustainable products, processes, and policies that create conditions conducive to life. She is also President of the The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit organization whose mission is to naturalize biomimicry in the culture by promoting the transfer of ideas, designs, and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design.
Authored works
Biomimicry : Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus, Sept. 1, 1997, (ISBN 0-06-053322-6)
Beastly Behaviors: A Zoo Lover's Companion by Janine M. Benyus and Juan Carlos Barbery (1990-now WL VA) (Oct 1993) (ISBN 0-201-62482-6)
Northwoods Wildlife: A Watcher's Guide to Habitats by Janine M. Benyus (Jul 1989) (ISBN 1-55971-003-9)
The Secret Language & Remarkable Behavior of Animals by Janine M. Benyus and Juan Carlos Barberis (Jan 10, 1998) (ISBN 1-57912-036-9)
The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States by Janine M. Benyus (Jun 15, 1989) (ISBN 0-671-65908-1)
Wildlife in the upper Great Lakes Region a Community Profile (SuDoc A 13.78:NC-301) by Janine M. Benyus (1992)
Christmas Tree Pest Manual by Janine M Benyus (Jan 1, 1983)
Awards and honors
Women of Discovery Award (2006), WINGS WorldQuest
Rachel Carson Environmental Ethics Award
Lud Browman Award for Science Writing
Science Writing in Society Journalism Award
Barrows and Heinz Distinguished Lectureships
Design Futures Council Senior Fellow
[edit]See also
Benyus graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University with degrees in natural resource management and english literature/writing. Benyus teaches interpretive writing, lectures at the University of Montana, and works towards restoring and protecting wild lands. She serves on a number of land use committees in her rural county, and is president of Living Education, a nonprofit dedicated to place-based living and learning.
Biomimicry
Benyus has authored six books on biomimicry, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In this book she develops the basic thesis that human beings should consciously emulate nature's genius in their designs.
In 1998, Benyus co-founded the Biomimicry Guild, the Innovation Consultancy, which helps innovators learn from and emulate natural models in order to design sustainable products, processes, and policies that create conditions conducive to life. She is also President of the The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit organization whose mission is to naturalize biomimicry in the culture by promoting the transfer of ideas, designs, and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design.
Authored works
Biomimicry : Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus, Sept. 1, 1997, (ISBN 0-06-053322-6)
Beastly Behaviors: A Zoo Lover's Companion by Janine M. Benyus and Juan Carlos Barbery (1990-now WL VA) (Oct 1993) (ISBN 0-201-62482-6)
Northwoods Wildlife: A Watcher's Guide to Habitats by Janine M. Benyus (Jul 1989) (ISBN 1-55971-003-9)
The Secret Language & Remarkable Behavior of Animals by Janine M. Benyus and Juan Carlos Barberis (Jan 10, 1998) (ISBN 1-57912-036-9)
The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States by Janine M. Benyus (Jun 15, 1989) (ISBN 0-671-65908-1)
Wildlife in the upper Great Lakes Region a Community Profile (SuDoc A 13.78:NC-301) by Janine M. Benyus (1992)
Christmas Tree Pest Manual by Janine M Benyus (Jan 1, 1983)
Awards and honors
Women of Discovery Award (2006), WINGS WorldQuest
Rachel Carson Environmental Ethics Award
Lud Browman Award for Science Writing
Science Writing in Society Journalism Award
Barrows and Heinz Distinguished Lectureships
Design Futures Council Senior Fellow
[edit]See also
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 188 reviews
January 11, 2020
I adore nature and science should do the same to get behind all those secrets and abilities shaped by evolution.
The sheer speed of technological progress, that leads to the unleashing of faster and faster scientific insights, has already confirmed and refuted some of the ideas of this already over 20-year-old book, but the future will show if the new results won´t have to be reconsidered again. And again. And...
It is simply logical long-time, less economic, thinking to focus on the use of up to billions of years old nature concepts instead of generating fictional trillions of cash and messing the whole earth system thing up. Just by copying prototypes that showed to be successful in million-year long evolutionary arms races and adapting the function to the wanted field of application and bingo, time, money and probably the planet are saved.
The author shows some examples of how she believes nature might inspire us in the future, taking real nature examples that are just the tip of the iceberg. Spidersilk or natural adhesives used by mussels have manifold potential and there are vast quantities of both undiscovered wonder substances and potential purposes.
Like instinctively finding cures like chimps, elephants and many other animals that are, in unknown ways, capable of consuming the foods they need in certain situations in the right amounts. Copying and understanding the chemical structures and possible applications of all those plants and fungi could be the key to finding cures for many diseases and even the aging process.
"Energy harvesting like a leave" shows the potentials of photosynthesis and in this way, alternative energy in general. Because there are so many processes that could be made useable, especially chemical ones that run 24/7 for energy production by optimizing physical processes.
"Running a business like a redwood forest" is a bit romantic, but comprises the main ingredients for a sustainable and fair economic system without losers.
"Computing like a cell" has already become a big topic and seemed close to impossible when the book was written, but is now already in its´starting block. It will be interesting which of the three contestants, old school computing with circuities that are getting closer and closer to the nanoscale, quantum computing or biological DNA- or another kind of nature-inspired or "alive" computing may become the most effective one. And that is just the hardware, the algorithms that could be won by copying nature and its creatures are also full of potential.
There are not only the technological and economic applications, but the military ones too that could be especially useful with new technologies and spaceflight so that it might be that we will find the way to other worlds by copying the processes that made our life, the functioning of our bodies, biospheres, everything around us, possible.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real-life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomime...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthet...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bio-ins...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
The sheer speed of technological progress, that leads to the unleashing of faster and faster scientific insights, has already confirmed and refuted some of the ideas of this already over 20-year-old book, but the future will show if the new results won´t have to be reconsidered again. And again. And...
It is simply logical long-time, less economic, thinking to focus on the use of up to billions of years old nature concepts instead of generating fictional trillions of cash and messing the whole earth system thing up. Just by copying prototypes that showed to be successful in million-year long evolutionary arms races and adapting the function to the wanted field of application and bingo, time, money and probably the planet are saved.
The author shows some examples of how she believes nature might inspire us in the future, taking real nature examples that are just the tip of the iceberg. Spidersilk or natural adhesives used by mussels have manifold potential and there are vast quantities of both undiscovered wonder substances and potential purposes.
Like instinctively finding cures like chimps, elephants and many other animals that are, in unknown ways, capable of consuming the foods they need in certain situations in the right amounts. Copying and understanding the chemical structures and possible applications of all those plants and fungi could be the key to finding cures for many diseases and even the aging process.
"Energy harvesting like a leave" shows the potentials of photosynthesis and in this way, alternative energy in general. Because there are so many processes that could be made useable, especially chemical ones that run 24/7 for energy production by optimizing physical processes.
"Running a business like a redwood forest" is a bit romantic, but comprises the main ingredients for a sustainable and fair economic system without losers.
"Computing like a cell" has already become a big topic and seemed close to impossible when the book was written, but is now already in its´starting block. It will be interesting which of the three contestants, old school computing with circuities that are getting closer and closer to the nanoscale, quantum computing or biological DNA- or another kind of nature-inspired or "alive" computing may become the most effective one. And that is just the hardware, the algorithms that could be won by copying nature and its creatures are also full of potential.
There are not only the technological and economic applications, but the military ones too that could be especially useful with new technologies and spaceflight so that it might be that we will find the way to other worlds by copying the processes that made our life, the functioning of our bodies, biospheres, everything around us, possible.
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real-life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomime...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthet...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bio-ins...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
March 21, 2011
I want to like this book, and I agree with her underlying theses. I enjoy reading all the gee-whiz almost-there projects that are going to supplant petroleum-based agriculture, energy, and the like, any day now. But no matter how many stories she tells about projects that *could* be better than what we use now, she never seems to touch on the fundamental problem that we, as a species, use all the food and energy we produce, so anything that is going to replace that needs to have the same productivity as the processes it's replacing, and natural, nature-imitating processes live by the same rules, only making just about as much as they need. Foodstuff and energy production that support humans require a vast excess, because we are, fundamentally, parasites on our foodstuffs and our energy sources, and with the population pressure we have, there aren't any natural processes that can sustain themselves and us too. This is the difficult truth: there are too many people for the world to support sustainably, given what we currently have and know. All the gee-whiz stories founder on that underlying problem, which neither she nor anyone else has any idea how to address, save the wingnuts who propose just killing all the poor and foreigners.
Plus I am irrationally annoyed when I read sentences like: "mammoth wildrye... a stout cool-season relative of wheat that the Mongols used to feast on when drought claimed their annuals" -- they didn't feast. They ate wildrye because they were starving because their normal crops had failed. That wording is the sort of institutional bias that runs rampant in this book, and in many other books and magazines in the future-utopia genre, and it never fails to irritate me, in exactly the same way that the phrase "unborn people" irritates me. Science stands on its own, but choosing soothing words to support your ideas is putting the prop in propaganda.
Plus I am irrationally annoyed when I read sentences like: "mammoth wildrye... a stout cool-season relative of wheat that the Mongols used to feast on when drought claimed their annuals" -- they didn't feast. They ate wildrye because they were starving because their normal crops had failed. That wording is the sort of institutional bias that runs rampant in this book, and in many other books and magazines in the future-utopia genre, and it never fails to irritate me, in exactly the same way that the phrase "unborn people" irritates me. Science stands on its own, but choosing soothing words to support your ideas is putting the prop in propaganda.
July 30, 2009
The first chapter of this 1997 book should be mandatory curriculum in... something - whatever discipline you can lock this philosophical framework for technical applications of environmental science. It is engineering, biology, and philosophy wrapped up into one.
Her premise isn't the standard concept of "biomimicry": that nature learns from its own mistakes and evolves, and that mimicry is one way species learn.
She instead posits that over billions of years, nature has developed vastly superior technology than humans. Here, "technology" has a broad meaning, including sustainable self-regulating systems. Think of pest-free, regenerating and durable prairie landscapes instead of massive mono-crop agriculture. In many cases, these technologies are in plain sight: the photosynthetic properties of a leaf cell are vastly more efficient than any synthetic solar cell we can reproduce. Moreover, we are barely able to map how photosynthesis works on an atomic level - we have a long way to go.
I saw Janine speak at a green building conference (just think about the connections!), and I would recommend her lecture just as I recommend the book. Her prose is vivid although she digs deep into technical detail on her subjects. It is not so readable as a result, and the chapters are highly episodic as opposed to cumulative.
There is much more to this book. I had to return it to the library before I was able to finish, but I consider my decent skim to constitute completion. And now, evangelization!
Her premise isn't the standard concept of "biomimicry": that nature learns from its own mistakes and evolves, and that mimicry is one way species learn.
She instead posits that over billions of years, nature has developed vastly superior technology than humans. Here, "technology" has a broad meaning, including sustainable self-regulating systems. Think of pest-free, regenerating and durable prairie landscapes instead of massive mono-crop agriculture. In many cases, these technologies are in plain sight: the photosynthetic properties of a leaf cell are vastly more efficient than any synthetic solar cell we can reproduce. Moreover, we are barely able to map how photosynthesis works on an atomic level - we have a long way to go.
I saw Janine speak at a green building conference (just think about the connections!), and I would recommend her lecture just as I recommend the book. Her prose is vivid although she digs deep into technical detail on her subjects. It is not so readable as a result, and the chapters are highly episodic as opposed to cumulative.
There is much more to this book. I had to return it to the library before I was able to finish, but I consider my decent skim to constitute completion. And now, evangelization!
May 16, 2022
This book tackles biomimicry in agriculture, synthetics and material science, economica and even computing by taking us through the works of researchers in this topic.
The thing I LOVED about this book was how it also explores changes in how we can and should think as people.
The writing can be relatively dense, but I believe that has more to do with the topic. On the contrary Benyus has a beautiful writing style, full of metaphor, poetry, and discussion.
I can honestly say this book will remain on the back of my mind for a while.
The thing I LOVED about this book was how it also explores changes in how we can and should think as people.
The writing can be relatively dense, but I believe that has more to do with the topic. On the contrary Benyus has a beautiful writing style, full of metaphor, poetry, and discussion.
I can honestly say this book will remain on the back of my mind for a while.
December 23, 2010
The concept of biomimicry and the author are featured prominently in Prince Charles’ TV documentary project “Harmony”. The book Biomimicry was written in 1997 and the science is a little stale, but the idea is still very interesting. Biomimicry is largely happening in the subtleties of biology, so be prepared for a heavy dose of biochemistry. For me, Benyus’ evangelical writing style is poetic but out-of-context for such a scientific topic. I appreciate natural beauty and an elegant design solution as much as the next guy, and clearly natural designs often demonstrate extreme economy of necessity. Yet Benyus occasionally loses sight of the fact that the nature we see today is the result of 3.8 billion years of trial and error, rather than some particular design genius. The second of Benyus’ three principles of Biomimicry - nature as a measure for what is right and appropriate - is extending an appreciation for nature into moral territory best reserved for other fields. Benyus is at her best describing the elegance of certain natural processes and how scientists in some fields are using nature as a model and nature as mentor.
December 13, 2021
I found this book to be an extremely inspiring read written by what you can only describe as a truly passionate creature equipped with wonder and wander. Every part of the book was written with so much heart to communicate a simple, yet profound message “Listen to the earth, it knows the way” - the geeky scientific take on the phrase at least, not the manifestation infused, astrology enthusiast horoscope obsessed take on it. Biomimicry is an incredible concept and the book is filled with anecdotes and observations about the resemblance between modern civilisation and the natural ecosystem that birthed it. It asks us kindly to push away our prejudice and our superiority complexes and make room to be still, observe nature intently and analytically and learn from it, truly learn from it, internalise those lessons and create a world that not only fits within its laws but is also completely inspired by it, shoving our human ingenuity to the side and carefully repeating by example with humbleness and gratitude. We were given delicate instructions, it just seems that our precious pride has prevented us from even taking a look at the guide. The rise of Biomimicry Janine suggests has emerged as a path to counter the damage we have caused for so long with our un-eco behaviours, hitting the biological limits due to our belief that “limits are a universal dare, something to be concurred” whilst other beings work within these universal limits set by Mother Nature herself. Walking in the forest again, we can find solutions to the most pressing of our issues, revealing that the right path was suggested all along, we just chose to look the other way.
HOW WILL WE FEED OURSELVES? Farmers are taking a slower approach to growing crops, instead of an industrial infested process that only cares for the quantity of the yields and the rate at which they can grow, farmers are now taking a step back, a no machine, no chemical, no artificial fertiliser process that has proven with enough diligence to be a more efficient, long lasting nature based farming approach, taking a “cure from the genius of the place” in the most literal sense. “Once again regarding the act of growing food as a sacred, biological act”.
HOW WILL WE HARNESS ENERGY? Oh that’s simple PHOTOSYNTHESIS, the most efficient process ever witnessed in the world to the production and use of energy. The solar revolution has started once again and this time, it is going no where. Efficient catalysts that mimic the separation process done casually by plants are being invented to support paint that can generate electricity, we would literally be able to paint our rooftops and streets with paint that could generate electricity by interaction (Need to read more about this device called PENTAD which changes charge distribution and might be used for future computing to help electrons switch at the speed of light - HOW COOL). By taking a page form how our own bodies work, we can retrofit existing membranes in industrial complexes to produce hydrogen or any source of energy that pleases us with lightning speed and fewer cost. We could even use PHOTOZYME, go a bit more microscopic and use bacteria for energy generation, special bacteria that does its own photosynthesis and with that we would be simply expanding our natural resource energy mix, and oh there was something about artificial duckweed that I can’t recall but it was interesting (Again, a natural energy producing process that needs a proper read).
HOW WILL WE MAKE THINGS? AN EVOLUTION IN MATERIALS, don’t mind if I do. We’re talking about observing how organisms manage to grow and mimicking THAT process, we’re talking taking a page out of the INDESTRUCTIBLE shell that houses pearls and creating supersonic materials, we’re talking genetic engineering in a lab filled with nerds that “mail order parts to build their own computers”. Recreating the natural process of how our bodies build protein, mimicking not the end result but following the evolution of genome growth step by step, not to mention new adhesiveness copying one of nature’s slimy creatures and using strengthening composite spider web fibres in our own materials. They all made it to the mix of magical natural compounds that will revolutionise our good old standard reliable materials.
HOW WILL WE HEAL OURSELVES? Oh mainly plants or better yet animals using these healing plants to show us the way, apparently if you spot an ape community and to your misfortune there’s one who is sick, observe the healing leaves being scavenged by the community, like it’s a natural thing to search for the right medicine. They even know which plants to use and which ones to avoid, apparently with time, we lost our own naturally endowed abilities to tell plants apart through our elongated pampering in our modern world. The propagation of knowledge also seems to be more natural, there is no in-house doctor in the animal kingdom, creatures are self sufficient, they learn, like we learn, by mimicry. Animals are much more in tune with their bodily functions, they seem to crave what their bodies actually need, even dirt is on the menu for some species. One worrying fact about this is that since we like to scrape off all signs of natural existence to build our modern ultra urbanised cities, we seem to have washed away quite the number of magically healing plants, luckily for plants and animals, they seem to rely on that which we didn’t even consider to be of immense value to our wellbeing, otherwise, had we spotted any of these healing plants that survived our bulldozers, off to the glass boxes they would have went. Now a days reservations are our only chance of capitalising on nature’s healing ability, so let’s just hope we saved enough to support us by design as nature had originally planned.
HOW WILL WE STORE WHAT WE LEARN? We’re going to take a page from our bodies here, if you already heard about a little thing called machine learning, just remember, our brains did it first. They actually want to observe evolution the way our carbon wired brains are capable of through silicon. There is a notion that building computers made out of biological molecules may be our safest way to understand the brain, if ever. The way by which molecules interact may be the blueprint to how electrons should communicate and interact, DNA coding is also to be observed to advise on how programming should actually be conducted, it is after all a computer programme that could lead the way to our first ORGANIC COMPUTERS. There are also efforts to position consciousness in the brain to understand “the unified sense of self” through the help of quantum mechanics [which is simply explained as the science of understanding the substructure of things]. We can truly decipher the process of learning through a concept called “quantum knowing”. This intersection between computing and the human machine holds within it the secrets to our future, forget the metaverse, there is something far greater in the knowledge this can reveal.
HOW WILL WE CONDUCT BUSINESS? Oh nothing new here just your good old fashioned, sustainability first slogans, go green, recycle and don’t waste. A little beautiful concept called the industrial ecology and the shape shifter of a truly circular economy with a land filled with industrial clusters symbiosing like a good old multicellular colony with hard working single cell creatures that seem to know how to connect productively forming us into the humans we are today, or claim to be. I truly think that this concept of industrial symbiosis married together with the industrial ecology revolution meshing together under circular bounds is where we are heading and it’s truly about time as it seems that the other earthly creatures have never been ones to waste, even BONES INSIDE OF BIRDS are eco-friendly, they evolved with time to use less material. The revolution is here and is very much green but to do it right we have to look at our fellow neighbours roaming the earth, they’re most definitely the experts in this process and have been doing it far before we even thought about reassessing the way we interact with THINGS.
So overall, insightful, interesting, cramped with insights and new innovations and communicated with such infectious energy and enthusiasm, by one of those few realistic optimists left in the world, who truly believes in a better world that is most importantly attainable for the simple reason that the ground rules have been set, all we have to do is just study them and learn how to execute.
HOW WILL WE FEED OURSELVES? Farmers are taking a slower approach to growing crops, instead of an industrial infested process that only cares for the quantity of the yields and the rate at which they can grow, farmers are now taking a step back, a no machine, no chemical, no artificial fertiliser process that has proven with enough diligence to be a more efficient, long lasting nature based farming approach, taking a “cure from the genius of the place” in the most literal sense. “Once again regarding the act of growing food as a sacred, biological act”.
HOW WILL WE HARNESS ENERGY? Oh that’s simple PHOTOSYNTHESIS, the most efficient process ever witnessed in the world to the production and use of energy. The solar revolution has started once again and this time, it is going no where. Efficient catalysts that mimic the separation process done casually by plants are being invented to support paint that can generate electricity, we would literally be able to paint our rooftops and streets with paint that could generate electricity by interaction (Need to read more about this device called PENTAD which changes charge distribution and might be used for future computing to help electrons switch at the speed of light - HOW COOL). By taking a page form how our own bodies work, we can retrofit existing membranes in industrial complexes to produce hydrogen or any source of energy that pleases us with lightning speed and fewer cost. We could even use PHOTOZYME, go a bit more microscopic and use bacteria for energy generation, special bacteria that does its own photosynthesis and with that we would be simply expanding our natural resource energy mix, and oh there was something about artificial duckweed that I can’t recall but it was interesting (Again, a natural energy producing process that needs a proper read).
HOW WILL WE MAKE THINGS? AN EVOLUTION IN MATERIALS, don’t mind if I do. We’re talking about observing how organisms manage to grow and mimicking THAT process, we’re talking taking a page out of the INDESTRUCTIBLE shell that houses pearls and creating supersonic materials, we’re talking genetic engineering in a lab filled with nerds that “mail order parts to build their own computers”. Recreating the natural process of how our bodies build protein, mimicking not the end result but following the evolution of genome growth step by step, not to mention new adhesiveness copying one of nature’s slimy creatures and using strengthening composite spider web fibres in our own materials. They all made it to the mix of magical natural compounds that will revolutionise our good old standard reliable materials.
HOW WILL WE HEAL OURSELVES? Oh mainly plants or better yet animals using these healing plants to show us the way, apparently if you spot an ape community and to your misfortune there’s one who is sick, observe the healing leaves being scavenged by the community, like it’s a natural thing to search for the right medicine. They even know which plants to use and which ones to avoid, apparently with time, we lost our own naturally endowed abilities to tell plants apart through our elongated pampering in our modern world. The propagation of knowledge also seems to be more natural, there is no in-house doctor in the animal kingdom, creatures are self sufficient, they learn, like we learn, by mimicry. Animals are much more in tune with their bodily functions, they seem to crave what their bodies actually need, even dirt is on the menu for some species. One worrying fact about this is that since we like to scrape off all signs of natural existence to build our modern ultra urbanised cities, we seem to have washed away quite the number of magically healing plants, luckily for plants and animals, they seem to rely on that which we didn’t even consider to be of immense value to our wellbeing, otherwise, had we spotted any of these healing plants that survived our bulldozers, off to the glass boxes they would have went. Now a days reservations are our only chance of capitalising on nature’s healing ability, so let’s just hope we saved enough to support us by design as nature had originally planned.
HOW WILL WE STORE WHAT WE LEARN? We’re going to take a page from our bodies here, if you already heard about a little thing called machine learning, just remember, our brains did it first. They actually want to observe evolution the way our carbon wired brains are capable of through silicon. There is a notion that building computers made out of biological molecules may be our safest way to understand the brain, if ever. The way by which molecules interact may be the blueprint to how electrons should communicate and interact, DNA coding is also to be observed to advise on how programming should actually be conducted, it is after all a computer programme that could lead the way to our first ORGANIC COMPUTERS. There are also efforts to position consciousness in the brain to understand “the unified sense of self” through the help of quantum mechanics [which is simply explained as the science of understanding the substructure of things]. We can truly decipher the process of learning through a concept called “quantum knowing”. This intersection between computing and the human machine holds within it the secrets to our future, forget the metaverse, there is something far greater in the knowledge this can reveal.
HOW WILL WE CONDUCT BUSINESS? Oh nothing new here just your good old fashioned, sustainability first slogans, go green, recycle and don’t waste. A little beautiful concept called the industrial ecology and the shape shifter of a truly circular economy with a land filled with industrial clusters symbiosing like a good old multicellular colony with hard working single cell creatures that seem to know how to connect productively forming us into the humans we are today, or claim to be. I truly think that this concept of industrial symbiosis married together with the industrial ecology revolution meshing together under circular bounds is where we are heading and it’s truly about time as it seems that the other earthly creatures have never been ones to waste, even BONES INSIDE OF BIRDS are eco-friendly, they evolved with time to use less material. The revolution is here and is very much green but to do it right we have to look at our fellow neighbours roaming the earth, they’re most definitely the experts in this process and have been doing it far before we even thought about reassessing the way we interact with THINGS.
So overall, insightful, interesting, cramped with insights and new innovations and communicated with such infectious energy and enthusiasm, by one of those few realistic optimists left in the world, who truly believes in a better world that is most importantly attainable for the simple reason that the ground rules have been set, all we have to do is just study them and learn how to execute.
August 20, 2022
Can we look to nature to inspire innovation? Well, considering the natural world consists of over 3 billion years worth of life on Earth, which is essentially 3 billion years worth of trial and error, research and natural selection that we can learn from… short answer is yes.
This was the first time I came across biomimicry in its most explicit way - which is funny considering I studied biology, and that so many great mechanisms we use in our technology is inspired by ones that exist in nature. However, as pointed out in this book, humans are notorious for over-engineering our systems and technology in a way that conflicts with the natural rhythms and balance of our natural environment, with most of our products designed to outlast our lives and in some case our entire existence on earth. Instead, we should look to natural mechanisms and the organic building blocks it uses to assemble these mechanisms.
The political/economic commentary at the end caught me off guard a little. It stuck out a bit from the rest of the book that focused more on the technical side of biomimicry, but of course the general application of biomimicry is important to recognise too.
This was the first time I came across biomimicry in its most explicit way - which is funny considering I studied biology, and that so many great mechanisms we use in our technology is inspired by ones that exist in nature. However, as pointed out in this book, humans are notorious for over-engineering our systems and technology in a way that conflicts with the natural rhythms and balance of our natural environment, with most of our products designed to outlast our lives and in some case our entire existence on earth. Instead, we should look to natural mechanisms and the organic building blocks it uses to assemble these mechanisms.
The political/economic commentary at the end caught me off guard a little. It stuck out a bit from the rest of the book that focused more on the technical side of biomimicry, but of course the general application of biomimicry is important to recognise too.
June 16, 2010
I was introduced to the work of Janine Benyus by a student of mine about a year and a half ago, and have been meaning to read this book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, ever since. This summer, I decided it was going to be a priority for my summer reading list, and it is the first one that I get to cross off.
The first thing I have to say about this book is that the concepts behind it are fabulous... if you want to learn more about Janine Benyus and what she does, check out her ted.com talks: Janine Benyus shares nature's designs and Biomimicry in action. The second thing is that this book is a little outdated; no fault of the author, just my fault for not reading it until 13 years after it was first published. This means that some of the ideas she has or predictions she made never did pan out the way she hopes, which almost puts the reader into some new reality where the present is still the future.
Anyways,... the whole premise of this book is that our society and our globe would be so much better off if we would model our actions after the natural world (mimicking biology = biomimicry) instead of doing things how we currently are (which is completely inefficiently and with lots of waste). The book is split into several sections, each answering a question of how we will tackle an obstacle of our life if we no longer follow the rules of a modern society, but instead follow only the rules of nature. The sections include: 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? and How will we conduct business. These are all questions that we will likely be presented with in the forseeable future if we continue to pollute and use resources at current rates.
The first section I absolutely loved, especially as I am really into sustainable agriculture. She mentions permaculture, the way of farming that tries to mimic a nature ecosystem, as well as Masanobu Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution (also on my summer reading list), which is a farming method that involves little human manipulation. The second section which focused on harnessing energy, however, made me realize that she is a biologist (and I am not), and although the overall information was interesting, there was a whole lot of detail on the process of photosynthesis (way more than I care to remember). I started to feel like this chapter was long and drawn out and found my attention span waivering. The section on how will we make things again had some interesting ideas again had some fascinating concepts, like talking about how mussels adhere to rocks underwater and how spider silk is stronger than steel yet made without intense heat, pressure, or nasty chemicals. However, I once again started to feel bogged down by the overload of biology that went with the concepts.
How will we heal ourselves was awesome. My favorite chapter of this book. It talked about finding natural medicines by watching how animals heal themselves; what they eat when they have a parasite infection for example. There is even a section on a certain type of monkey that seems to be able to choose the gender of their offspring by eating alkaline or acidic food during mating season. Amazing stuff. The section on storing our ideas basically focused on using a carbon based system instead of a silicon based system to "compute" ideas... so in essence, replacing computers as we know them by living organisms that could produce similar results, and even better results because these biological computers could "think" more than today's versions. This was where I started to feel like I was in a time warp, as she talked about the biological computers and suggested that early version may be available in the next 5 years or so.... that would have been 7 years ago from today, and the idea still sounds kooky to me. The last section on conducting business was again a bit outdated. A lot of the concepts that were talked about clearly haven't worked, as here we are 13 years later, and we are still destroying our environment at a sprinter's clip. The book mentions the buying and selling of pollution permits (which had just gone into effect when the book was piblished) as the ah-ha moment that was going to change industry, and now, looking back, we know that is not the case.
Anyways, despite this book being a bit outdated, and despite a few sections of way-too-drawn-out-biology for my liking, I still really enjoyed this book. Benyus writes eloquently and presents many ideas to learn from. Ecosystems are completely efficient role models and after reading this, I am certainly questioning how we got so far off the right path, and what it will take for our development to get back on the correct path and to follow the designs of nature.
The first thing I have to say about this book is that the concepts behind it are fabulous... if you want to learn more about Janine Benyus and what she does, check out her ted.com talks: Janine Benyus shares nature's designs and Biomimicry in action. The second thing is that this book is a little outdated; no fault of the author, just my fault for not reading it until 13 years after it was first published. This means that some of the ideas she has or predictions she made never did pan out the way she hopes, which almost puts the reader into some new reality where the present is still the future.
Anyways,... the whole premise of this book is that our society and our globe would be so much better off if we would model our actions after the natural world (mimicking biology = biomimicry) instead of doing things how we currently are (which is completely inefficiently and with lots of waste). The book is split into several sections, each answering a question of how we will tackle an obstacle of our life if we no longer follow the rules of a modern society, but instead follow only the rules of nature. The sections include: 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? and How will we conduct business. These are all questions that we will likely be presented with in the forseeable future if we continue to pollute and use resources at current rates.
The first section I absolutely loved, especially as I am really into sustainable agriculture. She mentions permaculture, the way of farming that tries to mimic a nature ecosystem, as well as Masanobu Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution (also on my summer reading list), which is a farming method that involves little human manipulation. The second section which focused on harnessing energy, however, made me realize that she is a biologist (and I am not), and although the overall information was interesting, there was a whole lot of detail on the process of photosynthesis (way more than I care to remember). I started to feel like this chapter was long and drawn out and found my attention span waivering. The section on how will we make things again had some interesting ideas again had some fascinating concepts, like talking about how mussels adhere to rocks underwater and how spider silk is stronger than steel yet made without intense heat, pressure, or nasty chemicals. However, I once again started to feel bogged down by the overload of biology that went with the concepts.
How will we heal ourselves was awesome. My favorite chapter of this book. It talked about finding natural medicines by watching how animals heal themselves; what they eat when they have a parasite infection for example. There is even a section on a certain type of monkey that seems to be able to choose the gender of their offspring by eating alkaline or acidic food during mating season. Amazing stuff. The section on storing our ideas basically focused on using a carbon based system instead of a silicon based system to "compute" ideas... so in essence, replacing computers as we know them by living organisms that could produce similar results, and even better results because these biological computers could "think" more than today's versions. This was where I started to feel like I was in a time warp, as she talked about the biological computers and suggested that early version may be available in the next 5 years or so.... that would have been 7 years ago from today, and the idea still sounds kooky to me. The last section on conducting business was again a bit outdated. A lot of the concepts that were talked about clearly haven't worked, as here we are 13 years later, and we are still destroying our environment at a sprinter's clip. The book mentions the buying and selling of pollution permits (which had just gone into effect when the book was piblished) as the ah-ha moment that was going to change industry, and now, looking back, we know that is not the case.
Anyways, despite this book being a bit outdated, and despite a few sections of way-too-drawn-out-biology for my liking, I still really enjoyed this book. Benyus writes eloquently and presents many ideas to learn from. Ecosystems are completely efficient role models and after reading this, I am certainly questioning how we got so far off the right path, and what it will take for our development to get back on the correct path and to follow the designs of nature.
July 25, 2013
3.5 stars (Goodreads doesn't allow half ratings...I guess they expect reviewers to be more decisive). This book was informative but, unfortunately, was not overly so on the topic of biomimicry. Benyus could have done a better job of bridging the gap between nature and technology.
In one section of the book, she discussed how we may use materials sparingly and quoted Brad Allenby: "Imagine how things would change if the only physical objects you bought were those you wanted to own for sentimental or aesthetic reasons. Everything else around your house would be leased as a service. Various providers would be responsible for installing, maintaining, upgrading, and eventually replacing your appliances, your furniture, even your cookware" (266).
In this vision of "leasing as a way of life," Benyus describes a world where we "head to [our] leased stereo/TV/computer console and select some tunes from the digital collection of music [we] own rights to..." Then, we download our newspaper and "have [our] computer read it to [us] as [we] cook dinner on [our] leased range." Maybe it sounds like a dream to some, but to me it sounds like Orwell's nightmare. There have not been enough psychological studies on ownership to assume that everyone will function successfully in such a world without creating even more waste. (Because, let's face it, we don't always take care of things that we don't own. Just check out a DVD from the library or rent one from your local video store if you don't believe me.)
What was even more perplexing to me is the fact that, after all this technological talk, Benyus wrapped up the book by talking about how we should get back to nature, Iroquois style. While there's certainly nothing wrong with her vision, I think her intended method of carrying it out is faulty at best.
There IS some valuable information in this book if you can get past the NPR-themed write-up.
In one section of the book, she discussed how we may use materials sparingly and quoted Brad Allenby: "Imagine how things would change if the only physical objects you bought were those you wanted to own for sentimental or aesthetic reasons. Everything else around your house would be leased as a service. Various providers would be responsible for installing, maintaining, upgrading, and eventually replacing your appliances, your furniture, even your cookware" (266).
In this vision of "leasing as a way of life," Benyus describes a world where we "head to [our] leased stereo/TV/computer console and select some tunes from the digital collection of music [we] own rights to..." Then, we download our newspaper and "have [our] computer read it to [us] as [we] cook dinner on [our] leased range." Maybe it sounds like a dream to some, but to me it sounds like Orwell's nightmare. There have not been enough psychological studies on ownership to assume that everyone will function successfully in such a world without creating even more waste. (Because, let's face it, we don't always take care of things that we don't own. Just check out a DVD from the library or rent one from your local video store if you don't believe me.)
What was even more perplexing to me is the fact that, after all this technological talk, Benyus wrapped up the book by talking about how we should get back to nature, Iroquois style. While there's certainly nothing wrong with her vision, I think her intended method of carrying it out is faulty at best.
There IS some valuable information in this book if you can get past the NPR-themed write-up.
August 21, 2021
I would've liked to give this book a higher grade.
The author makes a good approach on how areas such as materials science, energy production and storage, computing or health, are turning their gaze towards biomimicry to solve problems in a sustainable way.
However, there are sections that did not seem scientifically integral to me. For instance, in the first chapter of food and agriculture she does not consider the inability of "organic" systems to meet the high demand and pressure of an increasingly large human population. And while, in the materials section, she includes examples that employ synthetic biology, she downplays their relevance by showing them as the opposite of biomimicry, when it is an area with great potential.
Beautiful chapters such as health and nutrition, information storage in biological computers or biomimetic business emulating complex ecological systems, contrast with chapters written with a certain prejudice.
The author makes a good approach on how areas such as materials science, energy production and storage, computing or health, are turning their gaze towards biomimicry to solve problems in a sustainable way.
However, there are sections that did not seem scientifically integral to me. For instance, in the first chapter of food and agriculture she does not consider the inability of "organic" systems to meet the high demand and pressure of an increasingly large human population. And while, in the materials section, she includes examples that employ synthetic biology, she downplays their relevance by showing them as the opposite of biomimicry, when it is an area with great potential.
Beautiful chapters such as health and nutrition, information storage in biological computers or biomimetic business emulating complex ecological systems, contrast with chapters written with a certain prejudice.
November 16, 2021
I first read this book in the beginning of my undergrad in env science and biology. It felt overly fluffly and anecdotal at the time but the writing was soothing enough for finishing. However, as I continued thru school there were times I'd recall this book and think that the author was too opinionated.
Picking the book up again 4 years later and I hate it. The main topic of the book is essentially that we ~must return to nature ~ (Benyus' closing argument) and against our current technologies. The actual book doesn't really have much on biomimicry at all? It feels like the author stood near other scientists then wrote this.
It's really just a long winded propaganda piece. Not to mention at this point it is very dated. Skip
Picking the book up again 4 years later and I hate it. The main topic of the book is essentially that we ~must return to nature ~ (Benyus' closing argument) and against our current technologies. The actual book doesn't really have much on biomimicry at all? It feels like the author stood near other scientists then wrote this.
It's really just a long winded propaganda piece. Not to mention at this point it is very dated. Skip
September 13, 2019
Biomimicry is a frustratingly good book, the reason for that is lack of depth. J.M Benyus writes exuberantly about how to create a sustainable future but doesn't give enough details about implementation challenges. The chapter on "How we will feed ourselves in the future?" was the one that has realistically achievable ideas but the rest of them are mostly theoretical. As an Engineer, it was hard to swallow the biomimicry pill presented here. Looking for sources is only half the story and engineering it is the other half.
Anyhow, I would still recommend this book for people looking for inspiration to change the world.
Regards,
Vinay
Anyhow, I would still recommend this book for people looking for inspiration to change the world.
Regards,
Vinay
January 5, 2022
Me parece un libro que sea cual sea la formación que uno tenga, leerlo es... fundamental
A veces tiene muchos datos y se hace un poco pesado pero transmite una filosofía fundamental para el desarrollo sostenible de nuestro planeta
A veces tiene muchos datos y se hace un poco pesado pero transmite una filosofía fundamental para el desarrollo sostenible de nuestro planeta
May 25, 2017
This book was a revelation for me. It's quite extraordinary to see so many disciplines and ways of thinking brought together in the name of learning from nature in order to design, produce, and manufacture in a sustainable way. There are too many brilliant models in the book of your people are doing things right. From Wes Jackson's Land Institute that's rethinking - and re-doing - how grasses are grown in a way that rejuvenates the soil to scientists trying to simulate photosynthesis as a way to create energy, Biomimicry is riveting. The chapter on computers drags a bit and composting should have played a more prominent role, but otherwise it's a fascinating read.
January 22, 2022
Even though it was published almost thirty years ago, this book still has a lot of relevance today. How should we live together with nature/earth? What can we learn from it? And how should we place ourselves as co-habitants in this world, rather than as the masters of it?
April 29, 2022
“After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival.”
A autora revela o universo promissor do biomimetismo com diversidade, profundidade e ironia (?). Ela narra as descobertas de várias pesquisas do final do século que se inspiraram na natureza; seus exemplos englobam desde a agricultura à ciência dos materiais, trazendo (e muitas vezes relembrando) alguns conceitos muito interessantes de biologia, química e ecologia. Porém, apesar de gratificante, é um livro suado; por não poupar palavras para mergulhar nas minúcias de alguns conceitos, a leitura se torna cansativa, mas nada sobrenatural.
A autora revela o universo promissor do biomimetismo com diversidade, profundidade e ironia (?). Ela narra as descobertas de várias pesquisas do final do século que se inspiraram na natureza; seus exemplos englobam desde a agricultura à ciência dos materiais, trazendo (e muitas vezes relembrando) alguns conceitos muito interessantes de biologia, química e ecologia. Porém, apesar de gratificante, é um livro suado; por não poupar palavras para mergulhar nas minúcias de alguns conceitos, a leitura se torna cansativa, mas nada sobrenatural.
August 8, 2021
3,5 starts, the last chapter was great!
January 4, 2018
This book is an eye opener for those who may not be aware of progress has been made inspired by nature. There were several technologies and practices mentioned that I didn't know took inspiration from nature or simply just didn't know they existed.
While I really enjoyed this book, I thought a few chapters may have required more than just some university courses on chemistry/biology/etc. I ended up skimming a bit in hopes of just gaining the larger idea. I think some of the intensive details could have been omitted. Additionally, I thought the chapter on computing was a bit odd. The author attempts to make too many connections between the brain and computers. I don't know that if we do create "computers" that look and act like cells/the brain that we'll still call those "computers". I'd like to think that they'll be solving more complex problems than our computers today solve, where there is likely no "right" answer.
You should still pick up this book. It's a great introduction to biomimicry and how we can not only evolve, but become more in tune with nature to optimize and sustain the lifestyles we live today in hopes of preserving that for generations to come.
While I really enjoyed this book, I thought a few chapters may have required more than just some university courses on chemistry/biology/etc. I ended up skimming a bit in hopes of just gaining the larger idea. I think some of the intensive details could have been omitted. Additionally, I thought the chapter on computing was a bit odd. The author attempts to make too many connections between the brain and computers. I don't know that if we do create "computers" that look and act like cells/the brain that we'll still call those "computers". I'd like to think that they'll be solving more complex problems than our computers today solve, where there is likely no "right" answer.
You should still pick up this book. It's a great introduction to biomimicry and how we can not only evolve, but become more in tune with nature to optimize and sustain the lifestyles we live today in hopes of preserving that for generations to come.
October 8, 2011
Quite an in-depth description of observing and studying nature more closely to solve human problems. Really fascinating thinking and exciting to realize that there are more and more scientists who are starting to use this sort of technique. However, I tire fairly easily of the patronizing tone of the "environmentally enlightened" and do not enjoy when authors shrug off religious ideas as if they were relics. Granted, I am overly sensitive in both of these categories, and these attitudes, though they are present in the book, show up very rarely. I also think that her overly-effusive descriptions of the wisdom of native peoples borders on condescension. All in all, though, I would really recommend this book as an eye-opener for changing our views on growing food, harnessing energy, medicine, and many other basic human needs. I found the conducting business section particularly fascinating.
January 18, 2022
Biomimicry 101 should be required reading for anyone designing or building or creating anything and this is the first book I would put on the syllabus. Humans can only hope to craft things as beautiful and dynamic and useful as nature. This book will show you how it does that and how every field can learn from natural design.
June 23, 2015
Reminded me of Cradle to Cradle, but also felt a bit dated. Loved reading about the physical structure of Abalone shells, and the way animals ate to heal themselves. The computer technologies went a bit over my head. Great concepts, but much of what she preaches feels like old news by now.
January 3, 2016
A fantastic book about the possibilities available for biomimicry. Inspiring and informative. Everyone should read this, its a great general study on the field.
Currently reading
May 25, 2008I am trying to finish this book. It is really interesting but also very scientific, which was never my strongest subject!!
January 16, 2009
Ordered chaos. Scientific beauty. A inspiration for mankind. This is a must read if you are a designer, artist or lover of science.
June 11, 2012
The future of science and engineering for the layman.
December 7, 2017
I want to make it plain at the outset that I did not like this book. Reading this book was a frustrating experience for many reasons. For one, the tone of the author read like someone who was proselytizing for a false religion, namely the heathen worship of the earth mother, which did not bode well for my enjoyment of the book as a whole. Added to this was the inability of the author to recognize fundamental truths about design and creation that were staring her in the face and that were painfully obvious to me as a reader [1]. Given that the reader continually harps on the high level of design and skill it takes merely to mimic creation, it is striking that she is entirely blind to the intelligence and skill it took to create the same facets of plant and animal life that she views with such rapturous pleasure. Like those whom Paul comments on in Romans 1 who exchanged the worship of the Creator for the worship of His creation and professed to be wise but became fools, the author undercuts her own worldview by her continual demonstration of the aspects of design in the whole field of biomimicry, to results that are both irritating and occasionally hilarious.
The book itself consists of a series of explorations that the author has into various aspects of bioengineering that seek to take what is best out of creation and apply it to human beings in novel contexts or ways. One can see in the twenty years between this book's publishing and today that those of the author's ilk are much less confident about their ability to persuade people to change their ways to adopt what would now be called a more "sustainable" lifestyle without government coercion. Viewing creation as a model, measure, and mentor, the author praises shamans and holds to the ridiculous myths of noble savages that have been around since at least the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. The 300 or so pages of this book are divided into eight chapters that ask why we are talking about biomimicry now, how we may feed ourselves in the future, how we will harness energy, how we will make things, how we will heal ourselves, how we will store what we learn, how will we conduct business, and where we will go from here. Most of the chapters consist of the author attempting to digest the literature of speculation and research and looking for salvation in the efforts of scientists to copy God's creation.
Ultimately, what this book says is less important and blameworthy than its approach. Throughout its history, the contemporary environmental movement as well as the sort of futurist tendencies that the author demonstrates has been less about means and more about ends. Many of the promising technologies that the author touts here have fizzled and found themselves to be not worth pursuing. There have been fads about all kinds of plants that were supposed to provide medicines (some have) and end our reliance on hydrocarbons (they haven't), and renewable energy continues to have a fairly pitiful total share of our energy sources even today while fracking has given fossil fuels a new lease on life. The author's approach, though, that we should celebrate scarcity, worship nature, and accept some kind of technocratic government ruled by unaccountable scientific elites who adopt some sort of socialistic system is shared by many others, and no amount of specific debunking of this or that technology is going to change the fact that the author wishes to drastically reshape our society and whether it is done through the choice to reject contemporary ways made freely by people or by coercion when they do not move far or quickly enough, the author's ulterior motives are the same. And even when the author is right to criticize selfishness and destructiveness, the author is wrong to worship creation without any regard or respect for God's ways and laws, and that is simply unacceptable.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
The book itself consists of a series of explorations that the author has into various aspects of bioengineering that seek to take what is best out of creation and apply it to human beings in novel contexts or ways. One can see in the twenty years between this book's publishing and today that those of the author's ilk are much less confident about their ability to persuade people to change their ways to adopt what would now be called a more "sustainable" lifestyle without government coercion. Viewing creation as a model, measure, and mentor, the author praises shamans and holds to the ridiculous myths of noble savages that have been around since at least the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. The 300 or so pages of this book are divided into eight chapters that ask why we are talking about biomimicry now, how we may feed ourselves in the future, how we will harness energy, how we will make things, how we will heal ourselves, how we will store what we learn, how will we conduct business, and where we will go from here. Most of the chapters consist of the author attempting to digest the literature of speculation and research and looking for salvation in the efforts of scientists to copy God's creation.
Ultimately, what this book says is less important and blameworthy than its approach. Throughout its history, the contemporary environmental movement as well as the sort of futurist tendencies that the author demonstrates has been less about means and more about ends. Many of the promising technologies that the author touts here have fizzled and found themselves to be not worth pursuing. There have been fads about all kinds of plants that were supposed to provide medicines (some have) and end our reliance on hydrocarbons (they haven't), and renewable energy continues to have a fairly pitiful total share of our energy sources even today while fracking has given fossil fuels a new lease on life. The author's approach, though, that we should celebrate scarcity, worship nature, and accept some kind of technocratic government ruled by unaccountable scientific elites who adopt some sort of socialistic system is shared by many others, and no amount of specific debunking of this or that technology is going to change the fact that the author wishes to drastically reshape our society and whether it is done through the choice to reject contemporary ways made freely by people or by coercion when they do not move far or quickly enough, the author's ulterior motives are the same. And even when the author is right to criticize selfishness and destructiveness, the author is wrong to worship creation without any regard or respect for God's ways and laws, and that is simply unacceptable.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
June 28, 2018
Before I read this book, the only thing I knew of Biomimicry was from a short film on YouTube that piqued my interest.
After having finished this it, I feel overwhelmed by the new vision which compliments my sight.
Don't get me wrong, this book was hard to read. While I am not scientifically illiterate, I certaily don't have an in depth understanding of Biology, Chemistry or Physics. This books explains all aspects of science, from Biology to Chemistry and a little bit of Physics too. Quite often it was a bit more than I was comfortable going through. But I persevered, I ploughed through the book even though early on I was quite disillusioned that this wasn't the flashy "cool examples of nature in everyday English". And I am glad I did. The result is that although I am not professing to be a born again scientist, I have broadened and slightly deepend my understanding of how and why basic processes such as Photosynthesis are so amazing to us. I have gained a deeper understanding into just how far we have strayed from a sustainable lifestyle as a species and how pressing and inevitble it is that we return to being one.
Each chapter talks about a different aspect of life as we know it, and how animals, plants and processes in nature handle these very things. Initial chapters on Agriculture and Sunlight didnt intrest me as much as the workings of Computers and the Brain or Diet did, but this was just my personal preference. I loved the understanding that it is we humans who bestow the title of "computer" upon an object which in our case is a silicon based piece of electrical hardware. What of the other biological 'computers' in nature that 'compute' thousands upon thousands of times faster and quicker?
Reading about how monkeys and rats manage to balance their diets according to their environments was fascinating too, how ironic that we are the most 'advanced' species on the planet yet other species do with ease what we are increasingly struggling to do?
This book further reinforced the notion that as cliched as it sounds, we are a part of nature. We are not separate from it. If we decide to enclose ourselves within concrete walls, we have only temporarily separated ourselves. There is no such thing as a permament separation for as long as we reside on this planet. It is a duty upon us to dial back our transgressions we have enacted since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in order to make this planet a safe, healthy and habitable place to live for our descendents to come. As the book says, we are part of nature, somwhere between the ant and the mountain.
Having finished this book, I feel justified in my own personal awe and wonder in how trees, plants and animals thrive in ways that we are too theoretically advanced but practically primitive to understand. We marvel at our solar panels which are beaten by everyday "pond scum" with their 95% sunlight efficient conversion. We clearly have a lot to learn and it is imperative that we do so. The cure for cancer may lie in an undiscovered plant being burnt in the amazon for agricultural purposes.
Before I conclude, I recommend everyone to watch the mini documentary on Biomimicry by the same Author of this book which will give you inredible practical examples of how the scient/art of Biomimicry can transform the way we solve problems.
All in all, this can be a very tough book to read if you're not especially scientifically minded, but if you persevere and understand the message it is very, very powerful. I am happy I read it and definitely feel I have benefitted. 5 Stars for this reason alone, despite its minor readability shortcomings.
After having finished this it, I feel overwhelmed by the new vision which compliments my sight.
Don't get me wrong, this book was hard to read. While I am not scientifically illiterate, I certaily don't have an in depth understanding of Biology, Chemistry or Physics. This books explains all aspects of science, from Biology to Chemistry and a little bit of Physics too. Quite often it was a bit more than I was comfortable going through. But I persevered, I ploughed through the book even though early on I was quite disillusioned that this wasn't the flashy "cool examples of nature in everyday English". And I am glad I did. The result is that although I am not professing to be a born again scientist, I have broadened and slightly deepend my understanding of how and why basic processes such as Photosynthesis are so amazing to us. I have gained a deeper understanding into just how far we have strayed from a sustainable lifestyle as a species and how pressing and inevitble it is that we return to being one.
Each chapter talks about a different aspect of life as we know it, and how animals, plants and processes in nature handle these very things. Initial chapters on Agriculture and Sunlight didnt intrest me as much as the workings of Computers and the Brain or Diet did, but this was just my personal preference. I loved the understanding that it is we humans who bestow the title of "computer" upon an object which in our case is a silicon based piece of electrical hardware. What of the other biological 'computers' in nature that 'compute' thousands upon thousands of times faster and quicker?
Reading about how monkeys and rats manage to balance their diets according to their environments was fascinating too, how ironic that we are the most 'advanced' species on the planet yet other species do with ease what we are increasingly struggling to do?
This book further reinforced the notion that as cliched as it sounds, we are a part of nature. We are not separate from it. If we decide to enclose ourselves within concrete walls, we have only temporarily separated ourselves. There is no such thing as a permament separation for as long as we reside on this planet. It is a duty upon us to dial back our transgressions we have enacted since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in order to make this planet a safe, healthy and habitable place to live for our descendents to come. As the book says, we are part of nature, somwhere between the ant and the mountain.
Having finished this book, I feel justified in my own personal awe and wonder in how trees, plants and animals thrive in ways that we are too theoretically advanced but practically primitive to understand. We marvel at our solar panels which are beaten by everyday "pond scum" with their 95% sunlight efficient conversion. We clearly have a lot to learn and it is imperative that we do so. The cure for cancer may lie in an undiscovered plant being burnt in the amazon for agricultural purposes.
Before I conclude, I recommend everyone to watch the mini documentary on Biomimicry by the same Author of this book which will give you inredible practical examples of how the scient/art of Biomimicry can transform the way we solve problems.
All in all, this can be a very tough book to read if you're not especially scientifically minded, but if you persevere and understand the message it is very, very powerful. I am happy I read it and definitely feel I have benefitted. 5 Stars for this reason alone, despite its minor readability shortcomings.
Read
May 28, 2021This book is a bit challenging to review. It was initially published in 1997, with two paperback editions published around 2002 and 2012. The audiobook wasn't released until 2020. Biomimicry would benefit strongly from a revised edition. The concept is hugely important and has so many applications for modern business development. But large chunks of this book are heavily invested in now out of date scientific research.
Chapters 3-6 are interesting, but the concept presentation is hampered by both the book's 25 year age and the audiobook format. In these chapters, the author introduces a scientific concept and the species that specialises in using it. She then interviews a scientist and goes into heavy detail into his/her biomimetic research on that topic. Benyus uses metaphors to moderate success to explain the scientific concepts, but they are at times difficult to understand without accompanying illustrations. I ended up listening to chapter 3 three times to try and understand the quantum mechanics of photosynthesis. (I gave up the attempts to fully understand the latter chapter concepts since I didn't have time to re-listen). Unfortunately, since 25 years have passed, the listener struggles to identify what elements of the researchers' work have turned out to be valid and what research was left behind as technology improved. For example, one section references potential use in floppy disk technology. It seems safe to assume that specific usage has been abandoned. One specific complaint: Benyus never addresses ethics in her section on biomimicry in computer/AI research, not even in passing).
The initial and last chapters are the most relevant to modern issues. I found the initial chapter on sustainable agriculture fascinating. Some of the stats: 60 seed companies were sold between 1972-1982, all to chemical and petroleum companies. 1% of the U.S. population grows the country's food, and that percentage is falling. 7 companies run 50% of US farms. The last two chapters were also applicable to modern sustainability efforts. For example, the potential to judge business innovation based on 10 concepts: (Runs on sunlight, Uses only the energy it needs, Recycles everything, Rewards cooperation, Banks on diversity, Utilizes local expertise, Curbs excess from within, Taps the power of limits, Is beautiful).
Unfortunately, Benyus was very optimistic about the direction of climate change efforts in the mid-1990's. If only her hope in society was justified. Instead, we regressed during the last 25 years, and only now appear to be taking climate change mitigation and biomimicry efforts seriously again. If only more people, myself included, read this book back when it was released.
Chapters 3-6 are interesting, but the concept presentation is hampered by both the book's 25 year age and the audiobook format. In these chapters, the author introduces a scientific concept and the species that specialises in using it. She then interviews a scientist and goes into heavy detail into his/her biomimetic research on that topic. Benyus uses metaphors to moderate success to explain the scientific concepts, but they are at times difficult to understand without accompanying illustrations. I ended up listening to chapter 3 three times to try and understand the quantum mechanics of photosynthesis. (I gave up the attempts to fully understand the latter chapter concepts since I didn't have time to re-listen). Unfortunately, since 25 years have passed, the listener struggles to identify what elements of the researchers' work have turned out to be valid and what research was left behind as technology improved. For example, one section references potential use in floppy disk technology. It seems safe to assume that specific usage has been abandoned. One specific complaint: Benyus never addresses ethics in her section on biomimicry in computer/AI research, not even in passing).
The initial and last chapters are the most relevant to modern issues. I found the initial chapter on sustainable agriculture fascinating. Some of the stats: 60 seed companies were sold between 1972-1982, all to chemical and petroleum companies. 1% of the U.S. population grows the country's food, and that percentage is falling. 7 companies run 50% of US farms. The last two chapters were also applicable to modern sustainability efforts. For example, the potential to judge business innovation based on 10 concepts: (Runs on sunlight, Uses only the energy it needs, Recycles everything, Rewards cooperation, Banks on diversity, Utilizes local expertise, Curbs excess from within, Taps the power of limits, Is beautiful).
Unfortunately, Benyus was very optimistic about the direction of climate change efforts in the mid-1990's. If only her hope in society was justified. Instead, we regressed during the last 25 years, and only now appear to be taking climate change mitigation and biomimicry efforts seriously again. If only more people, myself included, read this book back when it was released.
February 5, 2019
The process of grasping the contents of this book only begins after you finish reading the book. This book is collection of information on various aspects of research that fits the lens of bio-mimicry (building systems and technologies in the image of how nature does it). Dont be discouraged if you feel overwhelmed by information and you have an urge to look up, on the internet, names of people, research, molecule, plant names, insects, enzymes and so on. I dealt with this by taking notes and plan on looking up various research that was mentioned all through the book. The edition I read was written about 20 years ago an I look forward to seeing how the research has progressed since that time. The book is organized in chapters that can be read in any sequence (probably still a good idea to read the last chapter at the end).
Mimicing nature felt very promising in some regards (materials, business models), moderately promising in others (growing food) while leaving me pretty perplexed and confounded in rest of the areas (organic batteries that work on photosynthesis based potential generation, shape based computing, storage based in organic molecule states that are switched with photos). Having said this, the last group of bio-mimicry activities have left me in awe of what some of the realities of future could be if passionate scientists of the field keep at it. I look forward to next phase of gradually looking back at my notes and scanning the web for the current state of all the research mentioned in the book.
Mimicing nature felt very promising in some regards (materials, business models), moderately promising in others (growing food) while leaving me pretty perplexed and confounded in rest of the areas (organic batteries that work on photosynthesis based potential generation, shape based computing, storage based in organic molecule states that are switched with photos). Having said this, the last group of bio-mimicry activities have left me in awe of what some of the realities of future could be if passionate scientists of the field keep at it. I look forward to next phase of gradually looking back at my notes and scanning the web for the current state of all the research mentioned in the book.
February 9, 2020
tl;dr: a mixed bag; some incredibly fascinating chapters, some fluff chapters, outdated research, anecdotal
i first heard about this book at the annual advanced research projects agency energy conference, where it was mentioned during a talk on “bio-inspired design.” this was perhaps one of the best talks i have been to and i was eager to learn more, especially from sources that originally inspired the speakers.
the book is structured around the question of how we can learn from nature and benyus breaks this question into 9 chapters, each discussing a different industry that can benefit from biomimicry.
most of the chapters discuss fascinating ways that nature has already solved many of the problems we are trying to solve on our own: super strong materials, disease cures, energy extraction, etc. some of these chapters (the latter ones) are pretty unnecessary to read in that they discuss our declining relationship with the environment, though benyus offers some hope for the future.
the book is largely anecdotal in the style of michael pollan: the author discusses her interactions with the academics, farmers, politicians, etc. at the forefront of a lot of these ideas. i didn’t care for it.
mostly, i thought the latter parts of the book were fluff. i imagine benyus felt it necessary to discuss pollution, though its technically not directly under the umbrella of biomimicry.
i first heard about this book at the annual advanced research projects agency energy conference, where it was mentioned during a talk on “bio-inspired design.” this was perhaps one of the best talks i have been to and i was eager to learn more, especially from sources that originally inspired the speakers.
the book is structured around the question of how we can learn from nature and benyus breaks this question into 9 chapters, each discussing a different industry that can benefit from biomimicry.
most of the chapters discuss fascinating ways that nature has already solved many of the problems we are trying to solve on our own: super strong materials, disease cures, energy extraction, etc. some of these chapters (the latter ones) are pretty unnecessary to read in that they discuss our declining relationship with the environment, though benyus offers some hope for the future.
the book is largely anecdotal in the style of michael pollan: the author discusses her interactions with the academics, farmers, politicians, etc. at the forefront of a lot of these ideas. i didn’t care for it.
mostly, i thought the latter parts of the book were fluff. i imagine benyus felt it necessary to discuss pollution, though its technically not directly under the umbrella of biomimicry.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 188 reviews