Wild Design

Living things, from animals and plants to other organisms, build shapes and structures that are both useful and visually striking. This book explores those forms and shows how the natural world holds remarkable designs that most people overlook.

The author's essays pair with older illustrations to bring art and science together. Among the subjects are diatoms, whose microscopic, glassy shells glitter like gems, and the hidden fungal networks running beneath the soil, which help shape the patterns of forests. The book also examines the surprisingly complex and varied nests that birds construct.

The central message is that wonders surround us at every turn. Readers only need to learn how to recognize them.