Nature is the original architect, designing and building extraordinary structures through more than four billion years of evolution, and in response to the tremendous forces of the Earth.
Wild Design celebrates wild design in the world of animals, plants, and other organisms, as well as in earth, stone, and water. This illustrated compendium explores structures as intricate as the microscopic glass" cases of jewel-like diatoms, as flamboyant as the festooned leks of bowerbirds, and as mysterious as the towering hoodoos of the Colorado Plateau. Bringing together art and science in lush illustrations and lively text, Wild Design is a great gift for anyone curious about the creative genius of the world around us."
Nature is the original architect, designing and building extraordinary structures through more than four billion years of evolution, and in response to the tremendous forces of the Earth.
Wild Design celebrates wild design in the world of animals, plants, and other organisms, as well as in earth, stone, and water. This illustrated compendium explores structures as intricate as the microscopic glass" cases of jewel-like diatoms, as flamboyant as the festooned leks of bowerbirds, and as mysterious as the towering hoodoos of the Colorado Plateau. Bringing together art and science in lush illustrations and lively text, Wild Design is a great gift for anyone curious about the creative genius of the world around us."
Kimberly Ridley is a science writer, essayist, and author of award-winning nature books for children, including the Kirkus-starred The Secret Pool. She holds an MS in Science Journalism from Boston University and lives with her husband, the painter Thomas Curry, in Brooklin, Maine, where she loves exploring the wild world.
"[A] slim, charming look at some of the most interesting results of
3.8 billion years of evolution...Wild Design will encourage any
designer who looks to nature for design ideas and cares about the
continuation of natural systems and, in turn, humanity."
- The Dirt (ASLA)
"A collection of fascinating essays that explore examples of
amazing natural structures built by nature's architects and
builders, offering 'a miniature cabinet of curiosities.'"
- Kennebec Journal/Augusta Morning Sentinel
""Wild Design...is a beautiful little book filled with exquisite
vintage drawings including fungi, flowers, seashells and
snowflakes. The book is a thank you to Mother Nature and a plea for
humans to make better lifestyle choices so plant and animal
extinction isn't the norm."
- Akron Beacon Journal,
"
""A feast for the eye and the mind. This celebration of nature's
varied and often surprising forms is an invitation to delight,
curiosity, and wonder."
- David George Haskell, author of Pulitzer finalist, The Forest
Unseen, and Burroughs medalist, The Songs of Trees. Professor,
University of the South,
"
""Filled with antique illustrations, this lovely little
stocking-stuffer book explores the magical design found in the
natural world, from minerals, shells, and plants to insects, birds,
and animals. Author Kimberly Ridley...challenges us to go outdoors
to see the wonders all around us."
-The American Gardener,
"
""The Maine-based, award-winning children's book author Kimberly
Ridley shares her sense of wonder for the natural world with adults
in her latest release. By pairing brief essays on the forms of
nature -- including stalactites, coral reefs, pitcher plants and
beaver lodges, to name a few -- with reprints of antique botanical
illustrations, Ridley has created a 'miniature cabinet of
curiosities' for readers to enjoy."
- Maine Organic Farmer Gardener,
"
""This brand-new, coffee-table-friendly tome from science writer
and essayist Kimberly Ridley reflects on wondrous patterns of
engineering and design in the natural world -- from mineral
structures to birds' nests to underground fungal colonies --
accompanied by way-cool vintage scientific illustrations. Readers
won't see a beaver dam or a mushroom the same way again."
- Down East,
"
""Through a mix of energetic essays and striking imagery, Ridley
celebrates the shapes of protists, fungi, plants, animals, and
other living things, whether via objects of their handiwork, or the
bodies of the organisms themselves....With each shape Ridley
unpacks, readers will likely feel as if they're viewing some of the
most fascinating designs on earth. Although some can be seen only
with a microscope, many can be observed by simply stepping
outdoors, if we only take the time to stop and look."
- The Slowdown,
"
""Wild Design is a book I want to read every day to remind me of
the myriad ways our planet is alive. Kimberly Ridley's evocative
and precise language is informed by her deep understanding of
science and her own sense of wonder. She sees the
interconnectedness of the world with her eyes wide open and her
vision opens our eyes as well."
- Stuart Kestenbaum, Maine Poet Laureate 2016-2121,
"
""William Blake's poetic directive to "see a World in a Grain of
Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower" encapsulates the message of
Kimberly Ridley's Wild Design....Designers and architects have
always turned to the natural world for inspiration, and collectors
grand and small have long sought out the wondrous natural treasures
showcased in this book. Wild Design is an evocative miniature
cabinet of curiosities, in portable codex form."
- Foreword Reviews,
"
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