OM über "Living Biotensegrity" (D.-C. Martin)

English translation of the book review by Ralf Vogt (Illertissen) in "Osteopathische Medizin" 2/2017

This book is a declaration of love to the concept of tensegrity, a combination of „tension“ and „integrity“, which is based on the architectural ideas of Richard Buckminster Fuller and Kenneth Snelson in the 50’s of the last century. Inspired by her mentor, Dr. Steven M. Levin, the author explains briefly the origins of the concept and instructs the reader in detail how to do her own experiments with tensegrity models. In her opinion someone who has had practical manual experience and knowledge of this concept can evaluate it better. And there is no better way of doing this than building models. In the third and fourth section of the book Danièle Martin reflects on the significance of biotensegrity in biology and medicine and describes with many examples the significance of biomechanics based on this concept. The book is concluded with some ideas from various fields in which biotensegrity has already been applied. The book is written concisely. The author attempts to avoid as far as possible terms from technology or physics and not to include calculation, which would only deter the lay reader.

All in all this is a work, which can be a successful introduction to the subject of tensegrity and expresses the enthusiasm of the author for her subject. From the point of view of the osteopath this wonderful book makes tensegrity itself accessible – including instructions about how to make models – a must for the book shelf, but definitely not for gathering dust.


zur Rezension in "Osteopathische Medizin" (2/2017, Elsevier)