Nano, Vol. 1

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Science writer Regis offers an accessible introduction to the mind-bending world of molecular engineering. (July)

Library Journal

Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman was the first to espouse the theory of molecular technology in 1959. It was 20 years later that much interest was shown, when K. Eric Drexler, an MIT graduate student, became fascinated with the idea of manipulating atoms and molecules to form tiny machines, which in turn could manufacture products to eliminate hunger, sickness, and poverty. When he published his ideas in the September 1981 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, he became the leading proponent and guru of "nanotechnology" (a word he coined to describe this process). Not much was written about this absorbing subject until about ten years ago, but since then the literature has mushroomed, including Drexler's own Unbounding the Future: The Nanotechnology Revolution (LJ 10/15/91). Science writer Regis (Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition, LJ 8/90) traces the short history of nanotechnology intertwined with an account of the life and times of Drexler. Recommended for all science collections, academic and public.-Eugenia C. Adams, Univ. of Houston-Downtown Lib.