Invention and Evolution:Design in Nature and Engineering - Softcover

French, M. J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521314925 ISBN 13: 9780521314923

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1988

Synopsis

This textbook for engineering students provides an introduction to design for function, using many examples of manufactured artifacts and living organisms to demonstrate fundamental underlying principles. Nature has taken millions of years to evolve numerous solutions for many design problems. The author demonstrates that the same underlying design principles for man-made objects also apply to living organisms, and shows how common themes can be found in mechanisms such as knees and car suspensions, structures such as feathers and ships, and systems such as horses and hydrofoils. The examples forcefully illustrate the importance of the basic design principles as related to materials, energy and information. The author also discusses the relation of aesthetic and functional design, the crucial relation of design to production in artifacts, and reproduction in organisms. The book concludes with a brief summary of the role and requirements of designers and inventors.

About this title

Book Description

This textbook for engineering students provides an introduction to design for function, using many examples of manufactured artifacts and living organisms to demonstrate fundamental underlying principles. The examples forcefully illustrate the importance of the basic design principles as related to materials, energy and information. The book concludes with a brief summary of the role and requirements of designers and inventors.

Review

'This book is strongly recommended for students and practitioner alike. It is studded with gems of information and fascinating comparisons well illustrated both in the diagrams and the text.' Engineering Design Education and Training

'Indeed it deserves the same wide audience as J. E. Gordon's brilliant popular classic: The Science of Strong Materials and Structures. It deals largely with different aspects of design but it resembles them in its clarity, wisdom, humour, and in its astonishing range of examples.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521314925
• ISBN 13: 9780521314923
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 338