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Adapt: How Humans Are Tapping into Nature's Secrets to Design and Build a Better Future
Amina Khan believes that nature does it best. In Adapt , she presents fascinating examples of how nature effortlessly solves the problems that humans attempt to solve with decades worth of the latest and greatest technologies, time, and money. Humans are animals too, and animals are incredibly good at doing more with less.
If a fly’s eye can see without hundreds of fancy lenses, and termite mounds can stay cool in the desert without air conditioning, it stands to reason that nature can teach us a thing or two about sustainable technology and innovation. In Khan’s accessible voice, these complex concepts are made simple. There is so much we humans can learn from nature’s billions of years of productive and efficient evolutionary experience. This field is growing rapidly and everyone from architects to biologists to nano-technicians to engineers are paying attention. Results from the simplest tasks, creating Velcro to mimic the sticking power of a burr, to the more complex like maximizing wind power by arranging farms to imitate schools of fish can make a difference and inspire future technological breakthroughs.
Adapt shares the weird and wonderful ways that nature has been working smarter and not harder, and how we can too to make billion dollar cross-industrial advances in the very near future.
If a fly’s eye can see without hundreds of fancy lenses, and termite mounds can stay cool in the desert without air conditioning, it stands to reason that nature can teach us a thing or two about sustainable technology and innovation. In Khan’s accessible voice, these complex concepts are made simple. There is so much we humans can learn from nature’s billions of years of productive and efficient evolutionary experience. This field is growing rapidly and everyone from architects to biologists to nano-technicians to engineers are paying attention. Results from the simplest tasks, creating Velcro to mimic the sticking power of a burr, to the more complex like maximizing wind power by arranging farms to imitate schools of fish can make a difference and inspire future technological breakthroughs.
Adapt shares the weird and wonderful ways that nature has been working smarter and not harder, and how we can too to make billion dollar cross-industrial advances in the very near future.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published April 18, 2017
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782 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 27, 2020
It was a fun read. Made me rethink my decision of becoming a scientist.
August 31, 2017
pg 310 "...nature is not necessarily perfect, not necessarily the best, it's just good enough right now."
terms: biomimicry bioinspired design
recommended book: "WTF, Evolution"
terms: biomimicry bioinspired design
recommended book: "WTF, Evolution"
November 26, 2022
The author starts out so strong with sexy nano tech and puns... so many amazing puns. It is part of her structure of 4 parts (the first part is nano tech/materials, then mechanics, then systems architecture, and then sustainability) and 2 chapters for each. The ants chapter is great because it updates some of Johnson Steven's "Emergence" with a richer picture of the mechanics of the hivemind system (Same Dr. Gordon but later). It's just... the puns dry up towards the end... and the factoids are more switch backed (I was so hopeful about the polar bears). Lots of great new findings but the most squishy subjects are last after 6 heavy and well structured chapters... it's just the bar is so high all the way through and then it's... it's just not the same... partly with the thinning of factoids that make it to the end... but mostly the extinction of the puns...
The Flatworm Issue with Game Theory (slightly mature content - This is the second time I've heard a secondhand snide remark about the flatworm's hermaphroditic penis fencing mating strategy and I have a bone to pick with it (There's a good a top, bottom, or verse joke in there but one bad pun is enough and not at the Author's eye roll chuckle level). Despite being able to regenerate when cut apart so that a little stab wound isn't a huge deal (a super cool ability outlined in older science with Dr. Becker's "The Body Electric" along with hydra, salamanders, frogs, etc) but it's always nice to have a quality control autopilot method. Just a little pondering and the selective pressures of swordsman ship make sense. Since flat worms would fall into the r selected (higher volume less physical, emotional, and memetic investment) the game is going to be more gene or maybe epigenetic. So a new mutation that is adventurous like speed, agility, and endurance would quickly spread through the pool as the "top" flatworm would impregnate many "bottom" flat worms. "His" genes are spread far and wide, the impregnated will be out of the game for a while and therefor not much competition while carrying the new genes. On the other hand, a less advantageous mutation which would make more traits with a high overlap in survival, feeding, and the penis game would be significantly slowed per generational turns as the carrier would lose and not spread as fast a verse, let alone top. Genetic autopilot is pretty sweet for the simpler species and will it's not as cool as the bacterial plasmids (the cd like genes that can be swapped without mating for updates) it's still and interesting and useful trick for... adapting. That said stuff gets more complex at scale with multiple selection pressures like in Robert Frank's "The Economic Naturalist." I won'd give too much away but a certain species has two parameters in at game theoretic... the one being a push for bigger and beefier bodies for sexual selection rituals... the other for speed and agility due to a predator. So the system has some equilibrium in the middle though both seem contradictory by the other's standards.
The Flatworm Issue with Game Theory (slightly mature content - This is the second time I've heard a secondhand snide remark about the flatworm's hermaphroditic penis fencing mating strategy and I have a bone to pick with it (There's a good a top, bottom, or verse joke in there but one bad pun is enough and not at the Author's eye roll chuckle level). Despite being able to regenerate when cut apart so that a little stab wound isn't a huge deal (a super cool ability outlined in older science with Dr. Becker's "The Body Electric" along with hydra, salamanders, frogs, etc) but it's always nice to have a quality control autopilot method. Just a little pondering and the selective pressures of swordsman ship make sense. Since flat worms would fall into the r selected (higher volume less physical, emotional, and memetic investment) the game is going to be more gene or maybe epigenetic. So a new mutation that is adventurous like speed, agility, and endurance would quickly spread through the pool as the "top" flatworm would impregnate many "bottom" flat worms. "His" genes are spread far and wide, the impregnated will be out of the game for a while and therefor not much competition while carrying the new genes. On the other hand, a less advantageous mutation which would make more traits with a high overlap in survival, feeding, and the penis game would be significantly slowed per generational turns as the carrier would lose and not spread as fast a verse, let alone top. Genetic autopilot is pretty sweet for the simpler species and will it's not as cool as the bacterial plasmids (the cd like genes that can be swapped without mating for updates) it's still and interesting and useful trick for... adapting. That said stuff gets more complex at scale with multiple selection pressures like in Robert Frank's "The Economic Naturalist." I won'd give too much away but a certain species has two parameters in at game theoretic... the one being a push for bigger and beefier bodies for sexual selection rituals... the other for speed and agility due to a predator. So the system has some equilibrium in the middle though both seem contradictory by the other's standards.
September 27, 2017
At first, I didn't think this book had a thesis, but I think it is buried in subtlety of the reporting style.
The author definitely has a conversational tone, which can be both welcoming and offputting. Almost like a movie narrator she can set the scene of her scientific adventures, or
Some of the interesting digressions could make interesting footnotes or sidebars, but I suppose they would break up the book format.
"There's a big difference between strapping two wings to your arms and flapping, and understanding every individual part of a bird and it's overall form and the fluid dynamics around its body when flying."
The author definitely has a conversational tone, which can be both welcoming and offputting. Almost like a movie narrator she can set the scene of her scientific adventures, or
Some of the interesting digressions could make interesting footnotes or sidebars, but I suppose they would break up the book format.
"There's a big difference between strapping two wings to your arms and flapping, and understanding every individual part of a bird and it's overall form and the fluid dynamics around its body when flying."
February 23, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this non-fiction book, both in terms of content and readability. It was scientific, technical and a wonderful way to understand some of the most interesting research that is going on in the world today, melding the sciences of biology with those of engineering. As an engineer myself, I loved the combination of the sciences and am thrilled how we are looking to nature for more of our solutions for the future. Khan writes in a very friendly style that is often unfamiliar in a book that is technically inclined, and the technical aspects are made understandable. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the science of the future.
September 12, 2017
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
This was a very interesting read. It actually took me a bit longer to read than usual as I re-read a few of the sections. The writing style is pretty easy to follow I just thought some of the science was really intriguing and wanted to make sure I was understanding.
I would have to say this book is more appealing to science and sustainability geeks like myself than to a broader audience, however, I think anyone could and should find the content engaging and in some instances incredible.
This was a very interesting read. It actually took me a bit longer to read than usual as I re-read a few of the sections. The writing style is pretty easy to follow I just thought some of the science was really intriguing and wanted to make sure I was understanding.
I would have to say this book is more appealing to science and sustainability geeks like myself than to a broader audience, however, I think anyone could and should find the content engaging and in some instances incredible.
April 17, 2025
Sounds like an interesting book! I'm curious to read more about how nature inspires better designs. Hopefully, the review will give a good overview. Free Online Games
January 30, 2018
A well-written and engaging book on a fascinating topic, even if you're not necessarily interested in architecture / bio-inspired design.
March 18, 2019
Such a great book that has given me a gazillion insights, ideas, musings, and wow moments.
December 20, 2022
The author gets off to such a terrific start with seductive nanotechnology and puns—so many fantastic puns.
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snake game
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April 3, 2023That was a joy to read. That caused me to question my choice to become a scientist. backrooms
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March 11, 2024You tell great stories, no doubt about it fnaf
March 11, 2024
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June 4, 2024
This book is so great; it's given me so many new geometry dash subzero insights, ideas, thoughts, and "wow" moments.
August 15, 2025
Adapt shows how observing nature's intelligence can inspire smarter, more sustainable technology and innovation.
level devil - not a troll game
level devil - not a troll game
December 2, 2025
I had a lot of fun with Tiny Fishing it’s perfect for quick online matches.
November 3, 2025
This Goodreads page is well-designed.
March 1, 2022
In Adapt, Khan uses a simplistic, journalistic writing style to present the bio-designed blueprints behind Nature's wisest eco-warriors. Today, architects, engineers, and biologists are meticulously observing cuttlefish camouflage, measuring python muscle mechanics, and replicating termite hive minds to resolve existential energy scarcity and inevitable overcapacity. While each tale of biomimicry effectively imparted nature's unreplicable ingenuity, I found myself frequently disinterested, as many of the research projects are still within their nascent stages, and additional work will be required for scientific breakthroughs. Furthermore, I felt that some of complex biological principles and chemical entanglements were explained poorly and disorderly. Despite these reservations, Khan's overall message is still clearly and effectively communicated, and I appreciated exploring the scientific journalism genre.
February 19, 2020
An interesting, but brief, popular overview of some new and/or improved technologies that resulted (or are in development) from studying nature (usually animals). Topics include material science, mechanics of movement, architecture of systems, and sustainability. Any scientific or engineering concepts that crop up are nicely and simply explained. An easy and informative read, though I have come across some of the examples covered in other books. Some diagrams/photographs/illustrations would really be useful in books like this.
August 3, 2020
This is a fairly readable book which explains some interesting quirks of nature. You'd have to be pretty interested in biology and nature/ecology etc. to really get a benefit from it but its not awful by any means - a little dry perhaps. I thought some photos might have helped illustrate things at times.
An ok book, I wouldn't go out of your way to read it as such but I did read the book in full and found myself wondering some things about nature, so it's not really good but neither is it awful.
An ok book, I wouldn't go out of your way to read it as such but I did read the book in full and found myself wondering some things about nature, so it's not really good but neither is it awful.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews