
The Shark’s Paintbrush
Biomimicry and How Nature Is Inspiring Innovation
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Narrated by:
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Steven Crossley
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By:
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Jay Harman
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.Listeners also enjoyed...




















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.
Filter the Ego
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Entertaining
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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.
Overall an excellent book on this topic.
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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.Wonderfully entertaining and educational
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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.
To much business
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Very Relevant
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definitely eye opening
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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.
Often Unrealistic, Heavily Biased
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More business less biomimicry
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~10% through and have to skip passages
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