Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Tensegrity: The history behind tensegrity, discovery, people, applications and why it was recognized as important. Chapter 2. The basic principles and geometry that underlie biotensegrity. Chapter 3. The 'stick and string' tensegrity models. Chapter 4. The shortcomings of orthodox biomechanics and the reasons why classical mechanics is inadequate in explaining biological movement. Chapter 5. Tensegrity in the cellular cytoskeleton. Chapter 6. Tensegrity in bony joints such as the spine, elbow, cranium etc. Chapter 7 & 8. Putting things together: hierarchies, more detailed look at the models and how they explain other things about biotensegrity mechanics, evolutionary development, embryology and some of the more detailed geometry. Chapter 9. Recent findings about functional anatomy, mesokinetic system etc. Chapter 10. The significance of biotensegrity to functional anatomy, biomechanics, robotics and clinical practice. Appendix. How to build a tensegrity model. Glossary References Index

About the Author

Graham Scarr is a chartered biologist and osteopath with a particular interest in structural mechanics. Fascinated by the numerous examples of geometric patterns and shapes in nature, he has been researching their significance over many years. As a graduate in microbiology, and after spending several years developing his skills in a bacteriological research lab, he is now part of a specific interest group looking at the significance of the biotensegrity concept to biomechanics and clinical practice, and at the forefront of current thinking about this subject. Working closely with Stephen Levin, an orthopaedic surgeon who first recognized the importance of biotensegrity to living organisms, he has developed new models that progress our understanding of the structure-function relationship in biology. Graham Scarr is currently a Fellow of the Linnean Society and Member of the Society of Biology; he has published several papers on this subject in peer-reviewed scientific journals.