Review
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Eric Liu, co-author of The Gardens of Democracy: A New American
Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government
“This book is a provocation and a delight. Rafe Sagarin invites
us to look at national security with the eyes not of a state but
of nature itself: for recursive patterns, adaptations, and the
simple keys to complexity. It's thrilling to apply the lessons of
octopuses, tidepools and other biological systems to defense,
intelligence, and government generally. It's even more thrilling
to imagine what our policymakers could learn from this book.”
John Arquilla, Professor of Defense Analysis, U.S. Naval
Postgraduate School
“Simply brilliant. Rafe Sagarin is one of the world's leading
lateral thinkers. He can study tidepool life and find ins
from it for fighting terrorism. He has harnessed our
understanding of nature's immutable forces—selection, learning
and adaptation—and turned them to the task of guiding us to a
fresh new security paradigm. Above all, Sagarin sees how
networked nature is, and how building our own networks is the
best way to defeat the perils our balky security institutions
have done so little to overcome.”
Library Journal
“Sagarin uses his ecological knowledge to shed light on national
security as well as other hard-to-predict challenges. Highly
recommended for ecologists, nature lovers, and those interested
in business, organizational change, and security planning.”
Nature
“Drawing on life science and evidence from the and
emergency services, Sagarin defines adaptability as the “sweet
spot” between reaction and prediction.”
New Scientist
“Sagarin explains biology's lessons for successful national
security with a brisk, clear style, designed for the broadest
possible audience. The book will be as informative to a field
biologist as a field commander. The natural history examples are
linked cleverly and effectively, making surprising and
provocative points to prompt discussion of how the flexibility of
natural defenses can be used for strategic benefit.”
Discover
“[An] open challenge to the status quo.”
The Scientist
“Learning from the Octopus is a paean to biomimicry and a
handbook on ‘natural security' from an unlikely, but
enlightening, source.”
Courtney E. Martin, author of Project Rebirth: Survival and the
Strength of the Human Spirit from 9/11 Survivors
“Learning from the Octopus is not just a brilliant book about
natural security, though it is that. It is also a transformative
meditation on what attributes are necessary to live a content,
modern life—starting with adaptability, imperfection, and
interdependence. Rafe Sagarin is not only a rarity in regards to
the intersection of his professional gifts—science and
writing—but his power to see beyond fear and conformity to what
really makes us safe in the world.”
Simon Levin, Moffett Professor of Biology, Princeton University
“In a brilliant and engaging style, Rafe Sagarin moves seamlessly
between natural history and security analysis, convincingly
making the case that we have much to learn in national security
from how evolution has helped organisms meet environmental
challenges. Learning from the Octopus is must reading for those
charged with protecting our nation, and a delightful excursion
for anyone interested in the wonders of the natural world.”
Publishers Weekly
“A marine biologist applies his expertise to national security,
delivering some ingenious ideas.... [F]ew readers will deny that
Sagarin is onto something.”
Foreign Policy in Focus (online)
“Years of marine research provide [Sagarin] with a unique
perspective on security issues. His new book's conclusion: we can
learn from nature about being more secure by being more
adaptable. Nature, after 3.5 billion years of dealing with risk,
is an experienced teacher.”
Natural History
“Sagarin identifies several characteristics of successful
species—and you can almost visualize them as bullets on a
motivational PowerPoint slide.... The parallels with modern-day
security concerns are evident, and Sagarin is quick to cite cases
of efforts hampered by bureaucratic inertia, insurgency
strategies that successfully build on cooperative relations with
local populations, and the like.... In short, this book lays out
some sensible policy suggestions based on biological knowledge.”
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About the Author
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Rafe Sagarin is a marine ecologist and environmental policy
analyst at the University of Arizona. Among his many accolades,
Sagarin is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship to support his work on
natural security, and he was a Congressional Science Fellow in
the office of U.S. Representative Hilda Solis. Sagarin has taught
ecology and environmental policy at Duke University, California
State University Monterey Bay, and University of California, Los
Angeles. His research has appeared in Science, Nature, Foreign
Policy, and other leading journals, magazines, and newspapers. He
lives with his family in Tucson.
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