false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172854138m/223609.jpg 223609 3 "Life is what biology's all about. Technology is something else altogether. Or so I believed before I got into a kind of biology that's about technology as well as life," begins biomechanics expert Steven Vogel in the preface to <i>Cats' Paws and Catapults</I>. Vogel examines the "mechanical worlds of nature and people" in such chapters as "The Stiff and the Soft" and "The Matter of Magnitude." Lots of line-drawing illustrations help readers understand the examples used to answer questions of animal and machine efficiency, design and repair. Vogel clearly loves the puzzles of biology--why, for instance, do daffodil stems bend at only one precise spot? This book is filled with intriguing answers to such hidden questions, and curious readers will eagerly dive into Vogel's investigations of whether nature or human design is superior and why the two technologies have diverged so much. <i>--Therese Littleton</I> 216560 1998 Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People total:14|4:4|3:7|2:3| 14 43 41 1 3 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Feb 01 08:34:17 -0800 2009 Wed Jul 29 06:24:45 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 10 20:16:50 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 20:16:50 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 30 19:18:31 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 19:18:31 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Sep 27 09:39:25 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 09:39:25 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 02 18:40:16 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 18:40:16 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 20 15:21:39 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 15:21:39 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 10:09:59 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 13:11:50 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Mar 04 14:14:15 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 14:14:15 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Feb 16 11:27:41 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 11:27:41 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jan 17 17:31:21 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 17:31:21 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 11 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed Dec 31 12:58:04 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 12:58:04 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Fri Dec 12 12:39:53 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 12:39:53 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Sun Nov 30 19:32:39 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 30 17:57:30 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Oct 22 08:49:42 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 16 21:46:30 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 21 08:55:10 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 21 08:55:10 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Thu Oct 09 04:59:26 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 09 06:32:07 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Dec 08 23:34:38 -0800 2008 Wed Oct 08 13:54:29 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 08 23:34:38 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Mon Sep 15 13:27:11 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 13:27:25 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Aug 26 17:10:28 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 17:10:28 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Mon Aug 31 02:16:09 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 23 08:17:12 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 31 02:16:09 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=223609