Furry Logic: The Physics of Animal Life

by Matin Durrani, Liz Kalaugher

The principles of physics lie behind many of the ways animals go about their daily lives. Scientists have discovered that the way cats and dogs lap up liquids can be explained by the laws of surface tension, how ants navigate is due to polarized light, and why pistol shrimps can generate enough force to destroy aquarium glass using their "elbows!"

Each of Furry Logic's six chapters tackles a separate branch of physics and, through more than 30 animal case studies, examines each creature's key features before describing the ways physics is at play in its life, how the connection between physics and animal behavior was discovered, and what remains to be found out. Science journalists Matin Durrani and Liz Kalaugher make the incredible interdisciplinary world of animals accessible to all, in an enthralling and entertaining read.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Animals, Nature, Physics, Biology, Wildlife

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2016

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Furry Logic: The Physics of Animal Life by Matin Durrani and Liz Kalaugher is a book like no other. It is a science book and a book about animals but the way the authors put it together makes it different. The wording alone is different. The love they have for the animals makes the words flow over the page like a gentle breeze and I felt comforted by their words. They are very humorous in their approach and I found myself laughing or snickering many times. The authors also make the physics, that animals use in everyday life, make this understandable for the everyday Joe's and Jane's out here. We want just to know enough to know what is going on and not more. But we don't want to be talked down to either, tough line to walk for an author. These authors do it well. Learned a lot of interesting things in this book from the bottom of the sea to the insects that fly. If you just want hard science, this is not for you. If you just want an animal book, this is not for you. If you want a book the guides the two to a perfect blend then stirs in a mix of humor and love then this is certainly for you. Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

[WhiskeyintheJar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half was vastly better to me than this latter half. I thought there was some fascinating information in here but I found myself furthering my research from other sources because this didn't provide enough. However, like I mentioned, I am a visual learner so, I'm naturally more inclined to get more out of YouTube and other videos. Definitely wasn't to technical and would worked great as a baseline informational read. I still can't help feeling the last two to three chapters lost the energy of the first.

Updates with comments and quotes:

Intro & Ch 1

Ch 2 & 3

Ch 4 & 5

Ch 6 & conclusion

Thanks to Flat Book Society for letting me hop into another buddy read!

[Brian Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of Furry Logic doesn't give much away. With nothing more to go on, I would have guessed that this play on the IT/OR concept of 'fuzzy logic' was a book about animal psychology. But the subtitle reveals it's something quite different: the physics of animal life.

This is a clever move. It's always difficult to find a new way of looking at a perennial topic like biology, but to do so by exploring the way that animals exploit physics, from cats to dragons, gives genuine insights into an otherwise well-trodden subject.

By bringing in all kinds of physics, from simple mechanics, through electromagnetism and light, to quantum theory, we see the ways that animals make use of the possibilities that physics offers to survive and thrive. Sometimes the details are pleasingly small and domestic. I found, for instance, the comparison of the way cats and dogs drink water (neither is able to suck it up as we can) delightful, particularly in the sophisticated approach of the cat. (And speaking of cats, we discover that the fearsome komodo dragon only has a bite as strong as a pet cat's.)

From turtles' ability to navigate the oceans through to the way that shared body heat can be actively manipulated by snakes and the varied non-audio communication methods of insects (not to mention why elephants stand with one foot off the ground), we see the animal kingdom at its most fascinating. At the end of the book, the authors make a fairly obvious but worthwhile point that making use of physics in this way doesn't imply an understanding of physics, but rather a trial and error discovery of what helps survival - but it doesn't make the stories any less interesting.
The only problem with an approach like this, covering different aspects of physics in different chapters is that the contents can seem to be more of a list than a meaningful narrative - but generally that isn't an issue here. If I'm honest, I got more than little bored with the mantis shrimp - the entry was far too long - but that apart, there was plenty cropping up to provide new wonders and interest.

One other small moan is over humour. Editors nearly always extract the majority of the attempts at humour from the books I write, and now I can see why. It's not as easy as it looks, and there's a distinct tendency to wince-making material, particular when scientists venture into the field. So, for instance, we read about the activity of some snakes that it involves 'lots of sex and a soupçon of gender-swapping. Not among Shine and his colleagues the scientists studying them], we must stress, but the snakes themselves.' It's groan-worthy, but tolerable.

Overall this was a fresh and enjoyable take on an aspect of the workings of animals that is rarely covered - a worth addition to the popular science hall of fame.

[Jamie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, yes, this book has the word furry in its title; stop your snickering. It is about applied physics in the animal kingdom. Critters large and small make use of their senses in amazingly complex ways, the end results of evolution’s continual adjustments to maximize the animals’ ability to exploit their environment. Just as interesting are the stories of the scientists who painstakingly examined those behaviors to figure out what was going on.

The book is divided into six chapters: heat, forces, fluids, sound, electricity and magnetism, and light, and each chapter looks at three or four different species to see what they can tell us. There is no math involved, and the closest we come to schoolroom physics is F=ma, so this is definitely a popular science book. The writing style is light and breezy, sometimes a bit too much so. Why do editors of these kinds of books insist on inserting a steady stream of jokes and puns into the text? It insults the readers’ intelligence to assume that their attention can only be held if there is a joke every three or four pages.

Some of the animal activities described are well enough known to have made it onto the science section of standard news websites. For example, how some garter snakes pretend to be females in order to get males to rub against them and warm them up when they emerge from their winter burrows. There are also explanations of how bees use the sun in their dances to show the direction and distance of food sources, and how ants use it to unerringly return to the nest even after wandering around apparently aimlessly. Those kinds of stories are fairly well known, but the average website will explain things in one or two paragraphs, and the value of this book is that it takes a deeper look at what is going one, including the early explanatory hypotheses, and the often ingenious experiments that were used to settle the questions. There is also acknowledgment that our understanding of many of these phenomena is still quite limited, and that observation and experiment can only go so far in making sense of how the animals interpret and integrate these abilities into their lives.

The novelty value alone of some of these stories makes them worth reading. Dogs and cats lap up water very differently, but it took careful experimentation and high speed cameras to figure out how and why. Mosquitoes biting their victims pump out a droplet of blood from their backsides to thermoregulate so that they do not overheat from the warmth of the body they are attacking. Fire beetles have a sophisticated thermal detection system that can discriminate between actual fires and false positives, and can help them home in on heat sources dozens of miles away, something humans can only do by using refrigerated infrared detection devices.

Mantis shrimp use their club-claws to smash the shells of their prey, but they also use cavitation, the collapse of a bubble field, for an even more powerful one-two punch. The description in the book led me to look for videos on the internet, and those little buggers are definitely not to be messed with. If it can crack a crab shell in a single punch, it can certainly break a human’s bones if they get too close.

There are pond skaters and seahorses, and a very good discussion of how bees' wings create vortices to give them additional lift. Sorry, Christian fundamentalists who believe bee flight somehow violates the laws of aerodynamics, and they only fly because angels push on their butts or something. The chapter on light has a very good discussion of why giant squid have enormous eyes, the size of dinner plates, even though they live in the virtually lightless depths of the ocean. The reason is because sperm whales, their main predator, create very faint bioluminescence trails as they swim through the depths, and sensitive eyes can give the squid time to react and evade.

I enjoyed this book. Even with those frequent jokes, when it comes to describing the science the authors avoid the gee-whiz approach, and let the scientists and their experiments speak for themselves. This is the kind of book I would give to a young person trying to decide what they want to study in college; it just might sway some of them toward careers in science.

[Michael Kott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would have thought that a book about mosquitoes, bees, eels and the like would be so informative? I really liked the author's style, factual bur framed in humor. All the creatures highlighted use physics to some degree in their lives. A very pleasant surprise.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm learning some things, but the excessively "cutesy" and/or condescending writing style is driving me nuts! Not sure I'll continue.

Samples:
"Stealing heat from a fellow animal is known as kleptothermy (not to be confused with a compulsion to race out of the supermarket with jars of coffee stuffed under your coat – that’s kleptomania)."

[In the bath, with a] "mug of peppermint tea on the corner of the tub. Bliss. You even manage to keep the pages dry when your mind wanders for a second and you wake with your mouth dipping below the surface. Hmm. Lavender soap doesn’t taste as good as it smells."

Good grief. And these are just a couple I grabbed off the Kindle sample....

OK, I'm closing this one out as DNF.

[Ira Therebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The animal world is fascinating and much more complicated than it looks like. This book shows how animals use physics in their lives and it is written for people like me whose knowledge in physics ended with the last year of high school.

It is written in a humorous, entertaining and easy way so it is pretty comprehensible. Although I must admit some parts were still a bit difficult for me. The author sure knows what he is talking about and loves it.

We find out about so many experiments that ended up explaining animal behaviour. I definitely learned a lot and found out answers to questions that I never even thought about. Like how does a bee fly? Or how does a mosquito survive flying in the rain? It is such a wide range of information on so many animals. How male snakes steal each other's heat by pretending to be female and how a shrimp uses acceleration to break shells of his food. Great book for any one who loves nature and wants to know more.

[Adam Pluszka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zapowiadało się świetnie, zaczynało się świetnie, ale po jakimś czasie robił się z tego miejscami niezbyt udany podręcznik ("podsumujmy, co wiemy"), a wprowadzanie napięcia szło zawsze na to samo kopyto ("o tym za chwilę"). Ogólnie: masa ciekawych wiadomości podanych w mało wciągający sposób.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting book which I probably would have liked better if physics made more sense to me.

[Gosiaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25⭐️
Fajna książka, ale chyba nie dokońca gatunek dla mnie. Dużo ciekawych informacji i też nie było zbyt naukowo, ale jednak już podkoniec czyułam, że za bardzo mi się to duży...

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: Interesting and informative, but it read like a textbook at times.

As I mentioned when talking about Storm in a Teacup, I'd really like to know more about physics than I do. Since I love animals, this book about animal physics seemed like the perfect solution. In this book, the reader will learn that "the way cats and dogs lap up liquids can be explained by the laws of surface tension, how ants navigate is due to polarized light, and why pistol shrimps can generate enough force to destroy aquarium glass using their ”elbows”!" (Source)

When I started reading this, I mostly saw the flaws with this book. It reminded me of a textbook in a variety of ways. The transitions between topics were often rough. The jokes were what might be described as 'dad jokes', although honestly I think that would be unfair to my dad. Think lots of puns and some not so great jokes that really went out of their way to fit in. They also included an excessive number of tangentially related pop culture questions. Overall, it felt like they were working too hard to entertain, instead of letting their enthusiasm for the physics speak for itself. They also discussed some physics equations in detail, a process that was worse than in a textbook because the equations were never just written out.

Don't give up on this book yet though! Those were the flaws and initially they kept me from getting into the book. As I went along, it began to win me over a little more. There are some truly amazing animal stories in this book. I did learn or relearn a lot of basic physics concepts. And sometimes, the authors really made me laugh. Overall, this book was not my favorite. Especially after loving the engaging, enthusiastic Storm in a Teacup, this is not the physics book I'd first recommend. However, if you enjoy puns, want to know more basic physics, and love animals, this could still be a good read for you.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey

[Elentarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Furry Logic is an interesting book that takes a look at the physics concepts used by a large variety of animal life for survival. The writing style is informal, chatty and whitty. Some of the puns and jokes were just awful, but most led to snickers or laughs, so I can't complain about them too much. While the authors do not go into a great deal of depth with their scientific explanations, the explanations are comprehensive enough to understand the concept. This is a fun, fast paced, fascinating and informative book, especially for the non-physicist and non-biologist. This book is divided into 6 chapters that show how animals make use of physics in terms of heat, forces, fluids, sound, electricity, magnetis and light.

The book covers such topics as flight, how cats drink, heat detection in snakes, the Komodo Dragon's bite, the electric field of flowers and how they attract bees, the sounds of peacocks and how elephants detect sound through the ground, how some animals use polarized light or magnetic fields to determine direction, how electric eels produce their electricity, why dogs shake themselves dry, why giant squid have such large eyes, and many more.

The book includes a section of colour photographs and has a few illustrations to explain concepts spread throughout the book. Unfortunately, the book did not contain a list of references or a bibliography, which is a bit strange for a science book!

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read; I breezed through it, and learned a lot. I recommend it as a gift.
This is essentially a book about animal facts, with the underlying theme being how they [evolution] apply some physics principle to survive, such as how geckos use van der Waal forces to stick to anything, or how flowers "communicate" with bees about how recently they've been visited by other bees through changes in electric fields.
The physics is pretty basic, so if that's your goal, it's largely appropriate teaching material for early highschoolers. The animal science though is the really interesting part for any level of educated reader; and despite having read a lot about animals, many of these lines of research were new to me. Furthermore, the book offered interesting glimpses into the real-time science of this field, presenting the experiments that led to the results, a lot of the open questions still to answer, and a lot of dead ends due to stupid reasons like not enough funding.
The authors make for a good writing duo; the journalist (presumably) making it an enjoyable read, and the scientist making sure it's all factually correct, and together sharing their love of cool animals.

[Joske Vermeulen · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting, but not well-written

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I said in my progress update, this book is great fun! The authors are dryly witty, and the facts they uncover about the animal world are often fascinating. But the book is so information-dense that it took me awhile to get through it.

You should read this book if you want to know:
1. How "the bumblebee flies anyway"
2. How an archerfish manages to hit its prey in spite of the refraction of light that should make its target seem further away than it is.
3. Why a hungry British bat pursues the very moth that seems to have evolved specially to elude it.
4. How desert-dwelling snakes manage to "hear" rodents as they scamper over the sand above them, even though they don't have ears.
5. Why garter snakes gather in enormous balls in the spring, when they first wake up from hibernation.
6. How mosquitoes manage to fly through the rain, even though the average raindrop is heavier than the average mosquito.

And much, much more. There is no story here (though there are some recurring characters, such as Isaac Newton). The authors arrange the book according to the physics they are examining, for example, light, heat, gravity, and so on. This can make it a bit of a challenge to read, but it's so much fun for fans of natural history.

Clever and illuminating. The right readers should absolutely love it, and I'd recommend it for older teens, as well as adults

[Angelic · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Kudłatą Nauką" zainteresowałam się między innymi dlatego, że byłam ciekawa jak zwierzęta wykorzystują pewne zależności fizyczne i miałam nadzieję, że jako kompletne fizyczne antytalencie, będę z niej mogła wynieść coś ciekawego.
Jeśli chodzi o format tej pozycji, to jest ona podzielona na 6 rozdziałów, poruszających najważniejsze zagadnienia fizyczne, opisujące zachowania zwierząt i ich przystosowania do życia, wykorzystujące dane zjawiska. Większość z tych rzeczy była naprawdę ciekawie opisana, jednak kiedy zaczynały się informacje o równaniach fizycznych, nazwiska uczonych i ich historiach, zaczynałam się zastanawiać czy naprawdę rozumiem o co chodzi i zwyczajnie się męczyłam. Z tego też powodu, odkładałam często książkę i przeczytanie całości zajęło mi około 2 miesiące.
Jeżeli macie ochotę dowiedzieć się więcej o sygnalizowaniu przez pszczoły, najlepszych miejsc na znajdowanie nektaru, sposoby nasłuchiwania węży, które nie mają zewnętrznego narządu słuchu, czy też sposób w jaki komary omijają deszcz i wykorzystują jego pęd, to jest to książka dla Was. Tematy są starannie wyczerpane i sądzę, że zadowoleni będą zarówno fascynaci biologii jak i fizyki. Polecam :)

https://angeliconpoint.blogspot.com/

[Kriston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Furry Logic gives readers a taste of some of the amazing things that animals do to survive. From male garter snakes who “trick” other males into keeping them warm when the temperature is low to the Japanese honeybee who uses teamwork to overtake the much larger Japanese hornet, the book gives us a look into the many fantastic ways animals use physics.

With six chapters—each covering a different principle of physics—the book covers about 30 different animals and their techniques for survival. The case studies, while fascinating across the board, have some science to wade through. But the authors do their best to keep things simple and fun. You might find yourself wallowing along at times but you’ll discover something amazing or learn something new along the way that you’ll be sure to want to share with the next person you see.

While Furry Logic can be a bit of a slow read, it’s definitely a book I’ll be thinking about and revisiting in the future. If you’re interested in learning more about some of our planet’s animals who use physics in sometimes unimaginable ways, this is the book for you.

[Emma H · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started this book I was a bit worried it was going to be dense and difficult to comprehend, especially because my baseline understanding of physics is limited (even though I’m a college Biology student currently taking the intro Physics series..) However, even just a few pages in I knew I was going to enjoy it, and enjoy it I did! Immensely. The book is aimed at audiences who may not be familiar with complicated physics topics, and the authors were superb in both teaching the reader about the given physics topics and presenting the ways in which the animals utilize that topic in an easy to understand way - I learned so much, and it also helped me contextualize what I’m learning in class and to apply it to what we’re learning in my other biology and ecology classes. All in all it was a compelling and educational read (a rare combination, especially in the physical science genre) and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in animals or physics, or anyone who’s ever wondered why giant squid have such big eyes.

[Kasia (Kącik z książką) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudłata nauka pozwala w nowy, świeży sposób spojrzeć zarówno na świat zwierząt, jak i fizykę. Ten pierwszy nabiera dodatkowej głębi i smaczku, ten drugi zyskuje znacznie przystępniejszą formę. Serdecznie polecam, nie tylko miłośnikom przyrody.

Cała opinia:
http://www.kacikzksiazka.pl/2017/10/k...

[Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Granted this book is right down my path when it comes to interests. I got my degree in biology and loved my physics classes in college. This was a remarkably interesting book about the way bees bake enemy hornets, how elephants "hear" with their massive feet and how some animals might be able to "see" the magnetic field of earth. Loved it.

[Monika]

Sporo fajnych ciekawostek. Kilka rzeczy mnie bardzo zaskoczyło. Ale mam też parę zastrzeżeń: sprawdzałam niektóre nazwy zwierząt w Google i zdjęcia/opisy nie zgadzały się z tym, co przedstawiono w książce. Podejrzewam, że mógł tu się wkraść błąd tłumaczeniowy, ponieważ sprawa dotyczyła tylko polskich nazw, te łacińskie były zgodne.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book that was surprisingly digestible without going too much into the weeds. The authors make the concepts understandable to folks even without a science background, though some pets get a bit technical. I enjoyed this one more than I expected to.

[Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting physics primer using the animal kingdom to illustrate, but I often found the humor groan-worthy.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Nancy Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book. So much fun, and just packed with science. For anyone from inquisitive middle-schoolers to wise old people. Highly recommended.

[Barbara Kocimowska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niestety książka nie jest dobrze napisana, a szkoda, bo jest potencjał na ciekawą ksiażkę. Z trudnem dobrnęłam do końca.

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was funnier and more insightful than I'd anticipated. It was interesting. A good read while waiting for someone to be done with practice... easily picked up over a few day span. Recommended.

[Dhartridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting tidbits about how animals operate,written in a humorous breezy style.Fun to read.

[Prashanth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish I had this book when I was kid starting to learn science

[Gniada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pełna ciekawych i niespodziewanych faktów, poprzeplatana z dobrym humorem. Mimo wszystko bardzo dużo fizyki, przez co bardzo długo zajęło mi czytanie.