The Shark’s Paintbrush

Biomimicry and How Nature Is Inspiring Innovation

De: Jay Harman

Narrado por: Steven Crossley

Why does the bumblebee have better aerodynamics than a 747? What structural design is shared by a tornado and a blood vessel?

Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturers have built things by a process known as “heat, beat, and treat.” They use enormous amounts of energy to heat raw material, shape it with heavy machinery, and maintain its design, strength, and durability with toxic chemicals. Now, in a world of depleted natural resources, entrepreneurs and scientists are turning to nature to inspire future products that are more energy and cost efficient. Biomimicry, the science of employing nature to advance sustainable technology, is arguably one of the hottest new business concepts. At the center of this growing movement has been award-winning inventor and biomimetic entrepreneur Jay Harman.

In The Shark’s Paintbrush, Harman introduces us to pioneering engineers in a wide array of businesses who are uncovering and copying nature’s hidden marvels. He shows business leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs how we can reconcile creating more powerful, lucrative technologies with maximizing sustainability. He injects a whole new vocabulary and way of thinking into the business sphere that speaks to both small start-ups and corporate giants.

©2013 Jay Harman (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Filter the Ego

Many compelling insights into a discipline that is sure to redefine the way we adapt and navigate a rapidly evolving world.
Told in the first person coupled with the often irritating, almost condescending tone of the narration makes the book difficult to listen to for long periods.
While Hartman’s contributions are many any laudable, he never misses an opportunity to remind the reader (listener) of his impact.
More often than not, the author comes off as too self important to validate a position of magnanimity.

That’s just me though. Others may be able to filter the ego and extract the essence with little or no effort.

Entertaining

This was recommended to me by a friend. I listened to it even though some of the reviews commented on the authors point of view. I thought it was really entertaining. And it captured a lot of information about the biomimicry industry. When I got to the end of the book it made more sense why the author chose to write this book.

Overall an excellent book on this topic.

Generally it was an excellent book. The author gave many specific names examples of products that exist in the biomassy space that you can find online.

Probably the most valuable with respect to business was there clearing honest description of how product innovation really works. This book would also be very valuable for anybody in the product development and licensing space.

He tells the truth about the product development industry. And how licensing is rarely a practical option given that most companies don't want to license unless you already have proven the product. He suggests that the most realistic and practical option is to go after small concrete markets with finished products from their extensive experience being the most practical approach to commercializing new innovations.

he says that licensing and DC financing and other things can work but they have to be extremely careful because they are far far too often extremely self-interested and not necessarily ethical in the way they behave.

It was an interesting and entertaining read that taught me a lot about real world products that already exist.

He often mistakenly believes that nature is perfect and in perfect balance. in fact nature has reached such exceptional designs by elimination, failure, death and Extinction. lt's called evolution.

all that said nature's had a 3.7 billion year head start on humanity and there is a great deal we can learn from the many successful systems that have arrived through this evolutionary process.

if you are a product developer innovator inventor or just generally curious person I would recommend reading this book to open your mind up to this possibility.

Wonderfully entertaining and educational

Where does The Shark’s Paintbrush rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of my favorites. I will probably listen to it for a long time. It's one that I would want to hear again and again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Shark’s Paintbrush?

The story of cutting down the tree was really entertaining. I don't know that I will ever attempt that, but if I do, I will remember to park my vehicle far away.

What about Steven Crossley’s performance did you like?

His voice is rich, deep, calming, and just emotional enough to be interesting.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Mimicking God's design for a smarter, better world.

Any additional comments?

While this was not a religious work, I found myself marveling at God's creation and how we could use His designs in improving our world through technology and general design. This book is funny, intelligent, and very well written and performed. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in nature, technology, ecology, or mechanical or technological engineering.

To much business

In a world where a business book is a dime a dozen, and biomimicry books are few and far between, the author spends too much time talking about business ideas and financial advice which at times comes across as "my excuse why my personal company didn't sell fans".

However, when discussing biomimicry it was fantastic. Applications and ideas were great and the history behind some current applications.

I just wish it was less biomimicy company stuff, and more application related.

Very Relevant

Loved it! Highly recommend. My book The Last Evaluation will certainly include references to biomimicry.

definitely eye opening

initially started when they know about a new subject and sustainably for materials but gave me way more than I asked for great book definitely recommend good info here

Often Unrealistic, Heavily Biased

This book feels great - until you realize he never discusses the downside to any of these suggestions. You'll quickly find yourself questioning the assessments he makes regarding possible biomimicry tech. Possibly the most glaring one is the suggestion to use energy from hydrogen gas because the only byproduct is water. That's a lovely thought until you remember that it's a highly combustible and extremely unsafe gas. There's a number of Healthcare suggestions that generate goosebumps on physician skin. At some point there was the suggestion to consume parasitic eggs as a treatment. Centuries ago, patients with parasites were treated with mercury. It killed the parasite, but often the patient as well. Just because something MIGHT work as a treatment does not mean it is safe, and there are often much safer alternatives.

Narrator choice was odd and lent to some confusion. Author is Australian and works a lot in US under those laws. For some reason they chose an English narrator so I had to keep reminding myself where a lot of these inventions were being trialed and the legal barriers to implementing them. I'm not sure why they made that choice for narration.

The final straw is the winding story-telling. Some stories are cute, but they were so often unrelated to anything else other than "One time I encountered this animal" that they quickly felt tedious and annoying.

Some great ideas in here, but the overwhelming bias and refusal to acknowledge risks of biomimicry inventions or benefits to using current tech makes it hard to stomach. I got about 80% of the way through before I finally gave up. I would suggest you not even start.

More business less biomimicry

Started off good then descended into a study on business strategy. Author did not stick to the subject.

~10% through and have to skip passages

seems like the author tries his hardest to sell the movement instead of elaborating on its underpinnings and most engaging arguments (as was promised in the description) - he is dropping names and numbers, and as of yet little facts on the subject of biomimicry, though the only one he has presented so far that has to do with the whirling shape (instead of straight lines) in which fluids and gasses move, depicted in golden ratio, has appeared so novel and so groundbreaking from engineering perspective that I'm willing to give the book a shot. overall wouldn't recommend to spend money on it specifically, but for a plus catalog listen it's okay