An Inventor in the Garden of Eden

An Inventor in the Garden of Eden

by EricLaithwaite (Author)

Synopsis

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 ourselves 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; the author discusses natural history and engineering, religion, economics and cosmology. He also deals with such fundamental topics as habit, experience, wisdom and civilisation. This book dispells the myths surrounding the belief that human inventions are superior to anything that evolution has produced in the living world.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 01 Sep 1994

ISBN 10: 0521441064
ISBN 13: 9780521441063
Book Overview: The author presents the inventor's view of Nature. A book for all thinking people.

Media Reviews
' ... a very personal book, unclassifiable, unscholarly, but unfailingly interesting.' The Times Higher Education Supplement
...a synthesis of over forty years of experience given to us by a man who has been an inventor and an engineer since the end of the Second World War... Laithwaite writes with facility and enthusiasm, intertwining his insights from several disciplines to make his case...written with wit and beauty and originality... Tom Carpenter, Wilson Library Bulletin
His storytelling skills, honed during many years of popular lecturing from which this book is distilled, are now in very good order....The result is a very personal book, unclassifiable, unscholarly, but unfailingly interesting. Jon Turney, Times Higher Education Supplement