An Inventor in the Garden of EdenCambridge University Press, 1994 - 289 páginas Eric Laithwaite takes the reader on a guided tour through the mysteries of invention, stopping off to examine the laws of nature and engineering. He shows how many of our inventions are based on designs which were evolved by the natural world over millions of years. In fact we learn that the natural world has often found more efficient answers than we have to taxing engineering problems. The shapes and sizes of both natural and Man-made objects are largely dictated by the size and weight of the earth and by the properties of materials. An Inventor in the Garden of Eden crosses many boundaries; as well as natural history and engineering, the author discusses religion, economics and cosmology. More than that, the author deals with such fundamental topics as habit, experience, logic, simplicity, wisdom and civilisation. This book dispels all the myths surrounding the belief that human inventions are superior to anything that evolution has produced in the living world. |
Índice
The human thinker | 24 |
Human laws and the rules of | 42 |
Size is everything | 74 |
Our assessment of ourselves | 105 |
xiv | 124 |
Topology the master discipline | 131 |
14 | 169 |
20 | 175 |
Naturemaster technologist | 213 |
A spirit of adventure | 226 |
Collective thought | 232 |
Adaptation | 238 |
Still more trades and professions | 247 |
Techniques in medicine and surgery | 253 |
Into the complex | 261 |
279 | |
Términos y frases comunes
animal appear atoms axis bees beetle biological birds brain branches butterflies catenoid caterpillars centre colours common complex concept creatures cube cubic centimetre curve D'Arcy D'Arcy Thompson David Attenborough decay digits earth effect eggs electric electrons energy engineering example experience fact feedback Fibonacci series fibres fluid frequency golden ratio googol growth helices helix holography human inches insects J. J. Thomson light liquid look machine magnetic mammal Martin Gardner mathematical matter mechanism metal million molecules moth nature nest never Osborne Reynolds particles patterns perhaps phenomenon physics plant power system produce Radiolaria random numbers rectangle result rotation sapiens science fiction seen sense shape shown in Fig side simple solid space species sphere spider Stevens structure surface symmetry technique theory tiny tree unduloid voltage wasps waves whilst whole wing wire word