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How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organization
Doubleday
February 2012
On Sale: January 24, 2012
304 pages ISBN: 0385534612 EAN: 9780385534611 Kindle: B004YWKKC8 Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the
recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air
passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals
how a single principle of physics, the Constructal Law,
accounts for the evolution of these and all other designs in
our world. Everything—from biological life
to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and
evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in
order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular
systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow
systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity.
Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to
cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or
increase their flow across the land. Such designs also
appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical
"flowcharts" or reporting structures in corporations and
political bodies.
All are governed by the same
principle, known as the Constructal Law, and configure and
reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently.
Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without
sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a
paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our
understanding of the world around us.
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