Nanomedicine, Vol. I: Basic Capabilities

Rating:
Summary: Predicting the future by making it happen
Review: A left-handed DNA on the cover? Apparently, all our hopes about the 21st century medicine ("nanomedicine") rely on using Z-DNA. One never knows.

Rating:
Summary: Excruciatingly thorough
Review: I am uncertain of the wisdom of writing such a detailed book on technologies that mostly seem a couple of decades away.
But this book is a bargain even if you ignore the parts of it that deal with medicine.
Chapter 2 is by far the best survey I've seen of research that might constitute important steps toward a molecular assembler.
Section 6.5.7 takes only one page to present a strong argument which implies that almost all other discussions of global warming are asking the wrong questions.

Rating:
Summary: Predicting the future by making it happen
Review: I'm a research engineer with a major U.S. corporation, and I think that Nanomedicine is an awesome book - Freitas obviously did a huge amount of work in writing this book. It isn't light reading - you need a college-level scientific education to really understand it, but even those without a technical background will appreciate the solid foundation that this provides for the tremendous advances that advanced nanotechnology will make possible. At any rate, if you want to understand the coming nanotechnology revolution in medicine, you must read this book.

I was very surprised by two recent reviewers who gave this excellent book an unfavorable rating. They obviously grossly misunderstood this book, apparently confining their long-term view of nanotechnology's contribution to 21st century medicine to the self-assembly of cleverly functionalized nanoparticles, such as the dendrimers being developed at UofM. Such nanoparticles will undoubtedly be very useful over the next few years, but for those of us who plan to predict to future by making it happen, we welcome Freitas' intricately detailed book. This book (and the series) is a vitally necessary foundation for ongoing research into active nanoscale devices that will incorporate nanoscale sensors, molecule-by-molecule reagent separations, molecular electronics, etc. One critic's comment about the left-handed DNA image on the cover reveals that this "reviewer" has not even opened the book. Freitas' use of the "wrong" DNA image was as purposeful as the humans pictured with seven fingers on the spine. He laments at the "left handed DNA" website (www.lecb.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/Leftyear2004.html) that "apparently these artistic subtleties have been lost on some readers."

Rating:
Summary: A Review of Nanomedicine by Lawrence Rosenberg, MD, PhD
Review: I'm hardly an authority on "wet" nanotechnology. Just a humble enthusiast. However, I believe that both professional and laypeople will find this a fascinating, insightful, and educational read. As Drexler stated in the book's forward, NANOMEDICINE required a comprehensive & multi-disciplinary perspective. Freitas provides one, in spades. If only 10% of the predictions made in the book come to pass, we will have a very exciting & daunting future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !

Rating:
Summary: The gold standard in Nanomedicine
Review: If you're interested in the medical applications of molecular
nanotechnology, and willing to endure some heavy-duty
technical details, then "Nanomedicine" is nothing less than
required reading. At the time this review was written (April
of 2002), there is simply no other book that even comes close.

I had the honor of reviewing the drafts of chapter five (in
volume one). Even in the draft stage, it was clear that this
was not just another science-fiction fantasy. Filled with

equations, examples, citations, and specifics, "Nanomedicine"
is the only book available today which directly addresses the
needs of researchers who are courageous enough to start
working right now on medical applications within this field.

For those interested in molecular (or "strong") nanotech,
there are other books well worth having -- not the least of
which is Eric Drexler's "Nanosystems". For technical details
about medical applications, however, nothing else comes close
these days to the output from Rob's beloved old Amiga.

No book this ambitious could possibly avoid all controversy,
but I'm confident that the overall work will easily survive
the eventual test of developing working devices. ...

Better books may be written someday, but for now, no one should

consider themselves knowledgeable about this field without at
least knowing about "Nanomedicine". It's that good...

Rating:
Summary: The "Bible" for 21st Century Bioengineering
Review: Serving as a reviewer for this book has been one of the most enjoyable and self-educating activities I've had over the last year. It takes a lot to stretch my imagination and this book certainly accomplished that. I have read the pre-press version of 8 of the 10 chapters in Volume I (1: The Prospect of Nanomedicine, 3: Molecular Transport and Sortation, 4: Nanosensors and Nanoscale Scanning, 6: Power, 7: Communication, 8: Navigation, 9: Manipulation & Locomotion, and 10: Other Basic Capabilities). The basic impression I am left with after reading this material is "wow, now here is a book that turns science fiction into reality".

This book serves to introduce and lay the foundation for nanomedicine - the use, in medicine, of bacteria sized programmable machines, constructed using molecular nanotechnology. It is a highly readable exploration of a field that will play an important role in the evolution of our species. It is also a technical reference with hundreds of equations and thousands of citations. The material covers the possibilities and limits of how nanoscale robots (nanobots) may function in the repair, maintenance and eventual augmentation of the human body.

Nanomedicine will be of interest to physicians, physicists, chemists, biologists, bioengineers as well as nonscientists who wonder how advanced technology may be used to solve currently unsolved problems in medicine. Anyone who considers themselves a "futurist" or who is interested in aspects of nanotechnology should consider the book "required reading". Even individuals who doubt the possibility of molecular nanoassembly will find this series useful due to the quantity and diversity of material relating to computing, human physiology, molecular biology and nanoscale physics that are brought together.

This books stands in a class with Moravec's "Mind Children", Drexler's "Nanosystems" and Finch's "Longevity, Senescence and the Genome" and such classic textbooks as "Molecular Biology of the Gene" and "Molecular Biology of the Cell". I highly recomend Nanomedicine.

Rating:
Summary: Quite a multi-disciplinary treatise
Review: The author seems to cover molecular biology, physics, and engineering with equally impressive expertise. Prior to purchasing this book I thought "How can someone write so much on a field that arguably does not yet exist?" I was surprised at just how much thought has gone into the many facets of nanotechnology and nanomedicine -- regardless of the fact that we do not yet have the ability to implement most of the technology being discussed.

The title is perhaps a bit misleading. I would say this book is just as good a primer on nanotech in general as it is on nanomedicine. Many engineering issues are discussed, including power requirements, communication, heat dissipation, and mechanical strength. And, while many ideas are presented in a biological context (for instance, fluid drag is discussed in the context of navigating the blood stream), the information has applicability to nearly any type of nano-engineering.

The information presented is EXTENSIVELY referenced, and by skipping over the mathematical formulas, should be easily understood by someone with a basic background in biology and/or physics/engineering. I highly recommend this book.

...

Rating:
Summary: Both rigorous and imaginative
Review: This volume makes it clear that Freitas has really thought things through. He is also an excellent writer; the introductory chapters on medicine and nanotechnology are exceedingly clear and informative. It's when he gets into the details, though, that the breadth and depth of his knowlege become apparent. It may be that things on the nanoscale are weirder and less cooperative than we currently imagine, but within the limits of what we know today, this book is authoritative.

It might also be a broadening read for engineers and/or people in the medical field with no direct interest in nanotechnology per se, since it takes an engineering (rather than a traditionally anatomical) view of the human body.