Author: Elvis Newman
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 978-1-4327-9932-8

“Biominicry is a designed discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The core idea is that Nature, imaginative by necessity, as already solved many of the problems we are grappling with: energy, food production, climate control, non-toxic chemistry, transportation, packaging, and a whole lot more,” Elvis Newman writes in his book, Life Lessons from Nature.

At ninety-six pages, this paperback book targets those wanting to learn about the correlation of nature compared to humans and how to inspire, motivate, and learn from insects, animals, plants, and other life-forms.

Through observing nature at its worst to finest, Newman, a motivational speaker, military strategist, political consultant, scientist, engineer, and foster parent, offers a mishmash collection of topics as they relate to humanity. 

After a foreword, the book is divided into four sections: Personal Motivation, Nature’s Military Strategies, Nature’s Scientific and Technological Prowess, and When Animals Foster Man, followed by a short topical index.

Starting off describing the mayfly’s one day of life, the author urges to accomplish goals now as there may not be a tomorrow, followed by the cicadas thirteen to seventeen year wait of perseverance. Other animal traits and characteristics mentioned in the largest portion of the book involve the golden eagle, sharks, stoat, mice, spiders, lions, buffalos, hamsters, crabs, ducks, elephants, fleas, monkeys, beavers, and goldfishes. The author gleans from these creatures ways and idiosyncrasies humans can mimic and make a better world.

The four eclectic chapters in the next section involve honeybees versus hornets, the Schlieffen Plan and Germany, killer whales and seal-hunting orcas, and Napoleon, Charlemagne, and Hannibal. 

Similar to the concepts in the prior part, the next one explains how virgin queen bees attack their rivals and the correlation of political and leadership positions by including the cuckoo and parasitic wasps with humans vying for ultimate power.

The fourth section scientifically defines focusing on nature to change human reactions and beliefs while the final chapter gives examples of humans being raised among animals and how parents can model success. 

Although never mentioning a Creator who made all living things, Newman’s point regarding biomimicry and biomimetics is that mankind can learn quite a bit of information, attitudes, and hereditary nuances in nature that can and should be harnessed and applied to help, aid, and sometimes solve human problems.