In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature--trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts--and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world.
Everything--from biological life to inanimate systems--generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current--of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical "flowcharts" or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, "Design in Nature" is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.

You'll find the answer in The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books the ultimate guide to the world's greatest books. As writers such as Norman Mailer, Annie Proulx, Stephen King, Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud, Margaret Drabble, Michael Chabon and Peter Carey name the ten books that have meant the most to them, you'll be reminded of books you have always loved and introduced to works awaiting your discovery. The Top Ten includes summaries of 544 books each of which is considered to be among the ten greatest books ever written by at least one leading writer. In addition to each writer's Top Ten List, the book features Top Ten Lists tabulated from their picks, including: The Top Ten Books of All Time The Top Ten Books by Living Writers The Top Ten Books of the Twentieth Century The Top Ten Mysteries The Top Ten Comedies Already sparking debate, The Top Ten will help readers answer the most pressing question of all: What should I read next?"

In personal essays that read like short stories, writers describe their life-altering encounters with books.

Can books be dangerous, elegant, or sad? Can books be tempting, or smokin', or double-d-daring? Can they compel you to hitchhike to the middle of Mexico, fall in love with snakes, or question your sanity? Of course they can. Writers including Jonathan Lethem, Haven Kimmel, Charles Frazier, and Bebe Moore Campbell tell us why in this eye-opening anthology. Tapping classic works such as The Catcher in the Rye and The Cat in the Hat as well as obscure novels such as Karel Capek's The War of the Newts, they reveal how literature tempts, enchants, and changes us. Each of these essays, which first appeared in the Raleigh News & Observer, reminds us that reading is not a passive pastime but an action sport that seizes and shapes, renews and remakes us. Insightful and heartfelt, humorous and accessible, Remarkable Reads will delight anyone who has ever loved a book.