Biomimicry by Janine Benyus

Evolution’s beautiful system of trial and error working over millions of years clearly has created the most advanced designs we know. Despite this, for the most part, we carbon units have insisted on doing things our way. Well, the spider is able to create stronger fiber than the best human efforts to date. And she does this at room temperature, without toxic chemicals and at normal pressure. The diminutive mussel is able to create a glue on the spot that allows him to stick underwater to slippery surfaces better than any genius material scientist’s “breakthrough technologies”. In this book, through these and many other examples, Janine points out that if we open our eyes to the nature around us, we can learn design approaches that will really push technology forward and at the same time help us to minimize our environmental impact. We found this book very inspiring and a must-read despite it being a little hard-going at points.