The Nanotechnology Bookstore


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	Technical Nanotechnology Books
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Technical Nanotechnology Books

Nanosystems

Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation. By K. Eric Drexler (xx + 556 pp., 200+ illustrations. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, and Singapore. 1992)

The first and defining book on molecular nanotechnology

The value of this pioneering work was perhaps best summed up by Ralph Merkle, in Foresight Update 15:

This is the unique value of Nanosystems, for it brings together in one place, for the first time, all the fundamental concepts needed to understand molecular manufacturing: what it can make, how it can work, how it can be achieved. Bringing together physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and computer science, it provides an indispensable introduction to the emerging field of molecular nanotechnology. For the technically knowledgeable, it provides an invaluable reference work which crosses the boundaries of several fields to bring together, in one convenient spot, the quantitative information required to analyze the performance of the molecular machines that will change our lives.

Complete article in Update 15

Ralph Merkle has a page on his Web site where he has compiled comments, excerpts from reviews, and the table of contents of Nanosystems.

Order the paperback edition of Nanosystems

Order the hardcover edition of Nanosystems

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology: Research and Perspectives. Edited by BC Crandall and James Lewis (Hardbound, ix + 381 pages. Includes bibliographic references and index. MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England. 1992)

Proceedings from the First Foresight Conference on Nanotechnology, held in October, 1989.

This heavily illustrated volume of gives a good overview of the various fields contributing to molecular nanotechnology development. In addition to 18 chapters representing the talks and panel discussions from the conference, there are two appendices, which reprint:

"Machines of Inner Space" - an article written by K. Eric Drexler for the 1990 Yearbook of Science and the Future, published by Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics" -- a prescient talk given by Richard Feynman in 1959 and published by California Institute of Technology in Engineering and Science magazine in 1960.

Articles about this book, listing the chapter titles and authors, appear in Update 12 and in Update 15.

Writing in Biophysical Journal 65: 976-977 (1993), R. A. Ghanbari and D. E. Clapham, of the Mayo Foundation, say this of Nanotechnology: Research and Perspectives:

Nanotechnology represents the results of a first step toward integration, by bringing together an impressive interdisciplinary cross-section of researchers to discuss the practical problems involved in developing nanotechnology, as well as to chart a course for future development. ... Nanotechnology serves as a highly accessible introduction to an interesting and expanding field.

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Prospects in Nanotechnology

Prospects in Nanotechnology: Toward Molecular Manufacturing. Edited by Markus Krummenacker and James Lewis (Hardbound, xviii + 297 pages. Includes bibliographic references and index. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, and Singapore. 1995)

Proceedings from the First General Conference on Nanotechnology: Development, Applications, and Opportunities; held in November, 1992.

Prospects in Nanotechnology provides an accessible introduction to nanotechnology, and to applications and progress in related fields. There is also discussion of the funding situation, technology policy, and hypertext as a facilitating system for social problem solving and public debate.

To emphasize the diversity of topics covered, a few isolated highlights from Prospects in Nanotechnology:

Eric Drexler discussing a "household" molecular manufacturing system (in chapter 1) and space vehicles that could be made using molecular manufacturing, capable of taking four people to orbit, and not much larger than a family station wagon (in chapter 11).
Ralph Merkle on designing molecular devices to be manufactured of diamond (chapter 2), and Michael Pinneo on current technologies for manufacturing diamond (chapter 8).
Consideration of various paths towards nanotechnology, including artificial evolution and biotechnology (chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6).
John Doerr on the role of venture capital in the development of new technologies, and what role it might play with the development of nanotechnology (chapter 15).
Marvin Minsky on the profound commonality between certain children's toys and molecular manufacturing, and on the popular profound misinterpretation of the role of quantum mechanics in uncertainty (chapter 10).

An article about this book, listing the chapter titles and authors, appears in Update 21

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