A structure has been defined as "any assemblage of materials which
is intended to sustain load" ...so begins the first sentence of this
perfectly delightful book. During the course of our discussions and readings
we will learn the answers to the following questions: why buildings and
bridges fall down and why machinery and aeroplanes sometimes break, but
also how worms came to be the shape they are and why a bat can fly into
a rose bush without tearing its wings. How do our tendons work? Why do we
get "lumbago"? Why did the bow of Odysseus have to be so hard
to string? Why did the ancients take off the wheels of their chariots at
night? Why is the reed shaken by the wind and why is the Parthenon so beautiful?
Can engineers learn from nature structures? What can doctors and biologists
and artists and archaeologists learn from engineers?
A structure has been defined as "any assemblage of materials which
is intended to sustain load" ...so begins the first sentence of this
perfectly delightful book. During the course of our discussions and readings
we will learn the answers to the following questions: why buildings and
bridges fall down and why machinery and aeroplanes sometimes break, but
also how worms came to be the shape they are and why a bat can fly into
a rose bush without tearing its wings. How do our tendons work? Why do we
get "lumbago"? Why did the bow of Odysseus have to be so hard
to string? Why did the ancients take off the wheels of their chariots at
night? Why is the reed shaken by the wind and why is the Parthenon so beautiful?
Can engineers learn from nature structures? What can doctors and biologists
and artists and archaeologists learn from engineers?