Wild Ideas

"Wild Ideas" looks deep into the forests, skies and oceans to explore how animals solve problems. Whether it's weaving a safe place to rest and reflect, blowing a fine net of bubbles to trap fish, or leaping boldly into a new situation, the animals featured (including the orangutan, humpback whale and gibbon) can teach us a lot about creative problem solving tools and strategies. This book uses lyrical text grounded in current science alongside wonderfully detailed art to present problems as doorways to creative thinking. "Wild Ideas" encourages an inquiry-based approach to learning, inviting readers to indulge their sense of wonder and curiosity by observing the natural world, engaging with big ideas and asking questions

A lively and endlessly fascinating deep-dive into nature and the many groundbreaking human inventions inspired by the wild. "Delightful."—The Guardian "Fans of Helen Scales won't want to miss this."—Publishers Weekly STARRED Review When astronomers wanted a telescope that could capture X-rays from celestial bodies, they looked to the lobster. When doctors wanted a medication that could stabilize Type II diabetic patients, they found their muse in a lizard. When scientists wanted to drastically reduce emissions in cement manufacturing, they observed how corals construct their skeletons in the sea. This is biomimicry in action: taking inspiration from nature to tackle human challenges. In Nature’s Wild Ideas, Kristy Hamilton goes behind the scenes of some of our most unexpected innovations. She traverses frozen waterfalls, treks through cloudy forests, discovers nests in the Mojave desert, scours intertidal zones and takes us to the deepest oceans and near volcanoes to introduce us to the animals and plants that have inspired everything from cargo routing systems to non-toxic glues, and the men and women who followed that first spark of “I wonder” all the way to its conclusion, sometimes against all odds. While the joy of scientific discovery is front and center, Nature’s Wild Ideas is also a love letter to nature—complete with a deep message of conservation: If we are to continue learning from the creatures around us, we must protect their untamed homelands.

Essays on photography and the medium's history and evolving identity. In Each Wild Idea, Geoffrey Batchen explores a wide range of photographic subjects, from the timing of the medium's invention to the various implications of cyberculture. Along the way, he reflects on contemporary art photography, the role of the vernacular in photography's history, and the Australianness of Australian photography. The essays all focus on a consideration of specific photographs—from a humble combination of baby photos and bronzed booties to a masterwork by Alfred Stieglitz. Although Batchen views each photograph within the context of broader social and political forces, he also engages its own distinctive formal attributes. In short, he sees photography as something that is simultaneously material and cultural. In an effort to evoke the lived experience of history, he frequently relies on sheer description as the mode of analysis, insisting that we look right at—rather than beyond—the photograph being discussed. A constant theme throughout the book is the question of photography's past, present, and future identity.

Monica Reinhart is a good girl. A hometown girl. After college, she returned to Brogan’s Point to help run the family business, an oceanfront inn. She’s never had a wild idea in her life. When Ty Cronin sails into town, his wildness intrigues her. When the jukebox plays “Wild Ideas,” that wildness infects her, and soon she finds herself doing things she never would have imagined. But Ty could be big trouble. She hardly knows him. She mustn’t trust him. Yet once she’s taken a walk on the wild side with him, how can she go back to being a good hometown girl?

Wild Ideas is a collection of essays that brings a fresh and refreshing perspective to the wilderness paradoxically at the center of our civilization.

Imagine a workplace where employees don't complain about problems but instead work together in idea-generating clubs to present positive solutions. The Wild Idea Club will help you get there there, by providing managers with an easy, step-by-step approach that harnesses the collective genius of their people to drive innovation, improve efficiency, and increase morale. In tough times like thesewith managers facing increasing pressure to get more done with fewer people and less moneyencouraging employees to work together to tackle tough issues on their own is not a luxury, but a survival tool.