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  • © 2020

Freedom and Evolution

Hierarchy in Nature, Society and Science

Authors:

  • Explains how many ‘common’ concepts are phenomena with a basis in physics and engineering science
  • Describes in accessible language how people function as part of the larger environment, and how we benefit from belonging in nature
  • Elucidates how nature is predictable through science, how evolution has a known time direction, and how technologic evolution can be simplified and advanced based on physics

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
  2. Nature and Power

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 1-12
  3. Economies of Scale

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 13-20
  4. Hierarchy

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 21-35
  5. Inequality

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 37-52
  6. Social Organization and Innovation

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 53-64
  7. Complexity

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 65-80
  8. Discipline

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 81-93
  9. Diversity

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 95-108
  10. Evolution

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 109-121
  11. Diminishing Returns

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 123-134
  12. Science and Freedom

    • Adrian Bejan
    Pages 135-145
  13. Back Matter

    Pages 147-151

About this book

The book begins with familiar designs found all around and inside us (such as the ‘trees’ of river basins, human lungs, blood and city traffic). It then shows how all flow systems are driven by power from natural engines everywhere, and how they are endlessly shaped because of freedom. Finally, Professor Bejan explains how people, like everything else that moves on earth, are driven by power derived from our “engines” that consume fuel and food, and that our movement dissipates the power completely and changes constantly for greater access, economies of scale, efficiency, innovation and life. Written for wide audiences of all ages, including readers interested in science, patterns in nature, similarity and non-uniformity, history and the future, and those just interested in having fun with ideas, the book shows how many “design change” concepts acquire a solid scientific footing and how they exist with the evolution of nature, society, technology and science.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Duke University, Durham, USA

    Adrian Bejan

About the author

Adrian Bejan was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal for “Thermodynamics and constructal theory, which predicts natural design and its evolution in engineering, scientific, and social systems”. 

He earned all his degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: B.S. (1971, Honors Course), M.S. (1972, Honors Course), and Ph.D. (1975). He was a Fellow in the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, at the University of California, Berkeley (1976-1978). At Duke University, he is the J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor since 1989.  He authored over 30 books, including The Physics of Life (2016) and 650 peer-refereed journal articles, and was awarded 18 honorary doctorates from universities in 11 countries. 

Professor Adrian Bejan’s impact on thermal sciences is highlighted by his original methods of theory, modeling, analysis and design that today are associated with his name: life and evolution as physics, constructal law, entropy generation minimization, scale analysis, heatlines, temperature-heat (T-Q) drawings, and many more. He has received the highest international awards for thermal sciences, and is a member of the Academy of Europe. 





Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 14.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 22.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access