Bones

From the perspective of an engineer admiring the girders of a bridge or parts of a machine, Bones celebrates how animals work. In tribute to both the beauty and mechanics of its subject, the book explores the structure, material, and movement of bones as they serve the design of living animals. It examines the composition of bone material, looks at the joints and muscle attachments that allow for movement - including such elaborate mechanisms as fish jaws, rattlesnake fangs, and a lion's retractable claws - and shows how the same bone is shaped wildly differently in a variety of animals. It…