"Full of ideas and well-explained principles that will bring new understanding of everyday things to both scientists and non-scientists alike."—R. McNeill Alexander, Nature Nature and humans build their devices with the same earthly materials and use them in the same air and water, pulled by the same gravity. Why, then, do their designs diverge so sharply? Humans, for instance, love right angles, while nature's angles are rarely right and usually rounded. Our technology goes around on wheels—and on rotating pulleys, gears, shafts, and cams—yet in nature only the tiny propellers of bacteria spin as true wheels. Our hinges turn because hard parts slide around each other, whereas nature's hinges (a rabbit's ear, for example) more often swing by bending flexible materials. In this marvelously surprising, witty book, Steven Vogel compares these two mechanical worlds, introduces the reader to his field of biomechanics, and explains how the nexus of physical law, size, and convenience of construction determine the designs of both people and nature. "This elegant comparison of human and biological technology will forever change the way you look at each."—Michael LaBarbera, American Scientist

Dev is a football player at Forester University, a small liberal arts college where he and his teammates get to strut around and have their pick of the girls on Friday nights. That's as good as it gets-until he meets Lee, a fox with a quick wit and an attractive body.Problem is, Lee's not a girl. He's a gay fox, an activist who never dreamed he'd fall for a football player. As their attraction deepens into romance, it's hard enough for them to handle each other, let alone their inquisitive friends, family, and co-workers. And if school is bad, the hyper- masculine world of professional sports that awaits Dev after graduation will be a hundred times worse.Going it alone would make everything easier. If only they could stop fighting long enough to break up.

“No strings,” he said…. Ex-special forces soldier and military dog handler Calhoun Miller is lucky to be alive. He wouldn’t even be in Marietta but for a vow he made to his fallen team leader to solve a mystery that spans decades. Spending a sexy, magical night with a beautiful woman isn’t part of the plan, but he’s never felt more compelled to seize the moment. And then a freak accident hospitalizes him, risking his mission to honor his friend. As if returning to her hometown of Marietta isn’t awkward enough, hospitalist Dr. Jory Quinn is blindsided when her sexy, anonymous hookup becomes her patient, possibly derailing her career. She begs him to keep their secret, but when Calhoun reveals he’s in town to solve the long ago disappearance of her father and brother, keeping her distance, hands, and secrets to herself is beyond challenging. Not to mention she might be…pregnant?

When Inspector Paws, a battle-scarred alley cat, narrowly escapes death by cougar, he moves in with Stella and Ernie Clayton, a couple in their late fifties. They provide him with good food, and their home, with its big backyard, caters to his roaming instincts. The best part, though, is that there are no kids around to torment him. But the cats newfound comfort is shattered when Ernie has a fatal heart attack. Ernies death is attributed to natural causes, but the tingle in Pawss whiskers convinces him otherwise. Ernie was always very careful with his heart pills, and Paws doesnt believe the line that Ernie knocked them over and couldnt get to them. Before he has a chance to figure out who killed Ernie and why, however, Stella and her zany friend Jo kidnap him and drag him off on a European bus tour, during which he becomes the tour mascot and self-appointed sleuth. Can he solve the mystery of who killed Ernie? And if he does, will he be able to communicate who it is to these sensory-challenged humans before the killer strikes again? A humorous and entertaining mystery, Inspector Paws and the Wonders of Europe introduces a new sleuth with just the right cattitude to solve the case.

Poems deal with truth, religion, nature, thought, the role of poetry, death, visions, age, and the past.