New Book on Biomimetics is a Pioneering Contribution to Environmental Literature
While traditional nature writing has concerned itself with natural landscapes encountered by humans, James Barilla’s new book investigates what happens when humans mimic nature with technology. In Naturebot: Unconventional Visions of Nature, Barilla applies the narrative conventions of the nature writing genre to this unconventional vision of nature, contrasting the traditional tropes and questions of natural history with an expanding menagerie of creatures that defy conventional categories of natural and artificial. Naturebot introduces us to these hybrid beings as he contemplates the future of the human relationship to the environment--and the future of nature writing in the 21st century. This is Barilla's third book, following two previous works about the human relationship with the natural world: My Backyard Jungle and West with the Rise.
Praise for Naturebot:
"Naturebot is a beautifully written and researched exploration of the rapidly growing field of biomimicry and its implications for how we think of and live in the world. It is an important book, one which will begin a much-needed conversation about the social and ecological costs and benefits of this brave new nature."
- Helena Feder, Associate Professor, East Carolina University
"When in unfamiliar terrain, having an adept guide can make all the difference between getting lost and finding a way—between being frightened of new phenomena, and learning from surprise encounters. In this scintillating book, James Barilla serves as the steady, insightful guide readers need to navigate the wildly fabricated landscape of biomimicry in its myriad forms. Naturebot is the story of a place that involves us, a living topos which is rapidly becoming everywhere."
- Christopher Schaberg, Dorothy Harrell Brown Distinguished Professor of English, Loyola University New Orleans
"A timely, fascinating take on the intersection of biology and technology, Naturebot will change your view of the future. With humor and insight, Barilla takes us on a compelling journey into a new kind of wildness—one that will appeal to scholar, student, and casual reader alike—a technological terrain that raises provocative questions about the connections between Nature, science, and art. What Barilla finds in his encounters with unconventional nature is at turns absurd, frightening, and hopeful—often all at once. His message is one we cannot hear too often: our future will be what we make it, and in fact we are making it right now. It would be good for us to pay attention and choose wisely. Naturebot goes far in showing us how."
- Paul Bogard, author of The End of Night and The Ground Beneath Us
Naturebot: Unconventional Visions of Nature is published by Routledge in the Routledge Environmental Humanities series.