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by: Ed Regis  Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 620.4 EAN: 9780316738521 Edition: 1st Pbk. Ed ISBN: 0316738522 Label: Back Bay Books Manufacturer: Back Bay Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 336 Publication Date: April 01, 1996 Publisher: Back Bay Books Studio: Back Bay Books Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: K. Eric Drexler envisions a world in which poverty and hunger no longer exist, because food can be made out of thin air, and we never grow old, because cells can be regenerated as swiftly as they "age." Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the molecular level, is what he's betting will make it happen. Ed Regis tells the story of Drexler's forays into this new science, showing the scientist's attempts to convince his colleagues that he hasn't descended into pulp fiction. He also fills in a lot of the historical and technical background, from the 19th-century arguments over whether atoms exist to modern experiments that have isolated and manipulated single atoms. Regis's prose is clear and straightforward, but not without a sly sense of humor. Apart from Drexler's own Engines of Creation, this is the book on nanotechnology to read. Product Description: In this fascinating book, noted science writer Ed Regis takes readers inside an imminent scientific revolution--nanotechnology--that was first conceived by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Profiling the visionary scientists and engineers who may soon make molecule-sized machines a reality, Regis Brilliantly explores nano's implications--from medicine and manufacturing to computing and warfare. 15 photos. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Eric Drexler -- where did you go?I'm not sure how this book turned up in my reading list -- I believe I found it on the back shelf of a bookstore. I read it because I have been interested in Nano-stuff ever since reading a terrific science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem long ago, and more recently Kurtzweil's new book -- The Spiritual Machine. Ed Regis writes in a well-informed pop journalistic style. His smoothly written narrative weaves together the many stories, names and achievements of nano-experts -- most notably Eric ... Read More Rating:  - Well-written and fun, but there are better options. 3.6 starsNANO was well-received when published, and I'd been half- meaning to read it for awhile. Your reaction to this book may vary depending on your previous exposure to the ideas behind nanotechnology. For simplicity, I'll break down the possible audience for this book: 1) You've heard the name, but what is it, exactly? SFAICT this is Regis' intended audience. But you're better off reading K. Eric Drexler's "Engines of Creation" (published 1986, several ... Read More Rating: - More biography than scientific reviewThis book is a pretty good account of K. Eric Drexler and his quest to bring "nanotechnology" into the popular and the scientific world. If you are looking for a book with some real theory behind it, this may not be the book for you. There is some science, but it's pretty light. You may want to get some of the books in the bibliography or something. As the book explains, part of the reason that real science on nanotechnology is hard to find is because it hasn't been widely researched yet. This book is ... Read More Rating: - A Pretty Good Introduction For KnuckleheadsI liked this book because it introduced me to the who, what, where, when, how and why of Nanotechnology. It gave me lots of history, written in a "See Spot Run" kind of style for scientific knuckleheads who just might be poets or other kinds of humanities types trying to hedge their bets by seeing what the techheads are up to--and it introduced me to one major concept that I still chew on: Quantum physics doesn't necessarily pertain to things like the nanotech bull-doggings of incredibly tiny bits of ... Read More Rating: - An exciting introduction to a weak theoryThe purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to an argument supported by nanotechnologists: that nanotechnology will cause world peace. "Nano" is defined as "one billionth" and a nanotechnologist is a person who achieves practical results by means of "a factory at the level of atoms" (p. 7). Regis explains how a factory composed of parts measured in billionths of a meter or nanometers would work."...(M)olecules would be stacked on tiny pallets which would move about on tiny tracks. ... Read More 
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