Nanocosm: Nanotechnology and the Big Changes Coming from the Inconceivably Small

Rating:
Summary: Bullish on nano
Review: As the hype-laden echoes of the "nano" revolution slowly fade into the background, research into nanotechnology has started to shift its focus from an "I wonder what happens if" phase to a "So what can I do with it?" phase. Journal pages are beginning to fill with the sober second thought of researchers who are trying to apply neat and tidy nanoconcepts to the messy worlds of physics, chemistry, and biology. In some cases, these scientists are making bold statements about the future, but more often, they are merely whispering about what we can do today. It is on behalf of this latter group that Bill Atkinson wrote Nanocosm.
In Nanocosm, Atkinson brings his effusive and sometimes castigating style to the various fields of materials science, genomics, and business, and tries to separate the myth from the math in nanotechnology, traveling the globe to talk to the people on the front line of research and marketing.
Atkinson starts his book with a short history of nanotechnology and a metric marathon from the macroscopic to the microscopic and beyond, trying to put the nano realm in its place. He also introduces some of the main characters who might be considered the progenitors of nanotechnology-specifically, Richard Feynman, who conceptually presented nanotechnology in his seminar "There's plenty of room at the bottom"; and Eric Drexler, the author of the first book about nanotechnology, Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation. By the third chapter, however, Atkinson begins to focus on what is happening today, starting with an analysis of materials science and its role as the foundation of nanotechnology.
The next several chapters continue Atkinson's explorations into the practical realities of nanotechnology. In one section, he discusses the financial requirements of nanotech research, describing the effects of the Clinton initiative and how the dotcom implosion might actually have released funds that had previously been swallowed by Web and software development. In another section, Atkinson describes the use of quantum tunneling technology as a method to transfer waste heat and how research into microfluidics is changing the medical diagnostics industry.
As Atkinson talks to the people on the front line, he discovers that one of the biggest challenges that will be faced by nanotech engineers is that the concept of "same only smaller" might not hold true. It was (and is) firmly believed by some researchers that moving from the microworld to the nanoworld simply required that everything become magnitudes smaller. But as theory becomes reality, researchers are finding that physical concepts largely ignored in the macroworld such as Brownian motion and van der Waals interactions become overwhelming challenges in the nanoworld. When you function at the size of an atom, a random photon can become a serious problem. Given these problems, nanotech engineers have to rewrite the design manuals.
There are two challenges to reading Nanocosm, however. Atkinson's writing style is very personal and a little scattered, something he fully admits in his foreword. He isn't presenting this material as an exhaustive or definitive survey of nanotechnology. Rather he is writing about the things and people who he finds interesting. At times, his personality can overwhelm the reader and he can come across as glib or coarse. Which leads to the second challenge.
Atkinson is not a fan of Eric Drexler, and he presents his distain for the man in no uncertain terms. In small doses, littered throughout the book, his anti-Drexler stance can be overlooked. But in Chapter 5, Atkinson begins a discussion of Drexler and his scientific shortcomings that borders on a rant. Although there appears to be validity in Atkinson's arguments, his envenomed approach can be tiresome and this section can be skipped in favor of Chapter 6.
These challenges aside, however, Nanocosm is a pleasure to read. Somewhere between Richard Feynman and Douglas Adams are the writings of Bill Atkinson. If the reader keeps this in mind, they will enjoy the book immensely.

Rating:
Summary: Atkinson on Nanotechnology and the Nanotechs
Review: Atkinson has written a spirited, controversial and very entertaining description of the people, science, debates, problems and importance of the emerging world of the technology of the tiny.

He is at his best in the clarity of explanation he brings to complex scientific and technical concepts. A must read for the non-scientists among us who seek to understand the social, political, economic and cultural impact of this emerging branch of contemporary research, especially in terms of near-future applications.

Atkinson is not simply a passive arranger of taped interviews, but reacts as an opinionated individual to his material and subjects, thus reflecting the realities of debate, reputation, emotion and ambition in modern science. Although his admittedly strong personality occasionally becomes unduly judgemental, even harsh, in dealing with some of the resident denizens of the nanoworld, yet it represents to the intelligent lay reader a much needed corrective to the popular idea that science is all empirical evidence, robot-like lab rats and indisputable formal logic. As with Atkinson himself, the nanotechs emerge on his pages as real people, complete with foibles, agendas, ambitions, priorities and feelings.

In the best tradition of effective futurists, Atkinson is not attempting to predict precise developments centuries from now, but rather to explore both the larger societal implications and the immediate technical possibilities likely to come from the explosive world of nanotechnology in the next few decades - in the maturity of today's adolescent or young adult.

This is what he sets out do and, allowing for the frequent intrusions of an admittedly strong personality, he does it well.

Rating:
Summary: Nanatechnology: Real and Now!
Review: Did you know that President Bush recently announced that $500 million would go to the National Nanotechnology Initiative? And that nano-technology is now considered one of the top 10 technologies that will change our lives? In this new book, William Illsey Atkinson delivers us to the world of the future, the world of incredible innovations in the fields of medicine, computing and engineering - the world of nanotechnology.

Now, when we talk about nanotechnology, we are talking small (really small, smaller-than-an-atom small). The book talks about what will happen once we get more prolific in working with this tiny technology, and how we will actually produce nanotechnology machines that will produce even smaller machines. Actually, these machines are so small, molecules will produce them automatically. Are you overwhelmed yet? Read on - this gets better. The following are some of Atkinson's amazing projections (remember, this isn't science fiction, this is real stuff that's being developed as you read this).

In two to five years, we can expect to see:
Car tires that will need air only once a year
Self assembly of small electronic parts (based on artificial DNA or guest host systems) Artificial semiconductors based on protein
Complete medical diagnostic laboratories based on a single computer chip less than one inch square In five to 10 years, we can expect to see:
Erasable/Rewritable paper for programmable books, magazines and newspapers
Light, efficient ceramic car engines
"Smart" buildings that self-stabilize after earthquakes and bombings
Inexpensive solar power that heats and lights cities by using roads and building windows as sun collectors And in 10 to 15 years, we can expect to see:
Paint-on computer and video displays
Cosmetic nanotechnology, including permanent hair and teeth restoration
Handheld super computers
This book is just loaded with this kind of earth-shaking information. And the good news is that, for a science book, it reads like a best seller. If you want to get a clear glimpse into the future for all of us, make sure you give this one a read.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Writing Detracts from an Otherwise Good Book
Review: First of all, let me just say that my rating of two stars for "Nanocosm: Nanotechnology and the Big Changes Coming from the Inconceivably Small" by William Illsey Atkinson has much more to do with the style of Atkinson's prose than the content of his book. "Nanocosm" was an often-time frustrating read as Atkinson's writing is average at best and even amateurish at times. The best example of this is when he is relating a conversation he had with Bill Warren, president of Sciperio, Inc., while Warren is working out in the hotel gym. Atkinson insists on adding ellipses in his quotations from Warren to indicate when the man is taking a breath in between lifting his weights. He also insists on telling us how big and strong the man is and he calls him `Scaramouche' in the book instead of his real name. All decidedly bad ideas.

That being said, "Nanocosm" is a good recitation of the realist school of the potentiality for nanotechnology to transform our economy and society. Atkinson takes a dim view of the `Drexlerian' same-but-smaller approach to nanotechnology that seeks to create nanoscale machines using nanoassemblers. Atkinson gives many practical reasons why this not only cannot work in the immediate future, but why it will never work even on a long-term horizon.

Atkinson, and the many scientists he interviews, instead advocates nanotechnology based on biomimicry. In other words, we should study how nature functions in the nanocosm and we should use these already existing methods to our own advantage. There is no need to shrink our macrocosm world to the nanocosm one when the nanocosm has already given us the tools we need to function at that level.

Contained within "Nanocosm" are the expected predictions from a book of this sort. Some of Atkinson's predicted technologies include nanodiagnostics to instantaneously and inexpensively diagnose diseases, commercially viable solar energy collectors, buildings that can adjust to their environment to resist earthquake and storm damage, and hand-held supercomputers that function on an analog/parallel architecture.

If you can get passed Atkinson's crude prose (and you are not a dedicated follower of K. Eric Drexler), then "Nanocosm" is an interesting work that brings to light several potential technologies brought forth by nanoscience. Nanoscience and nanotechnology will be the hot button issues facing the world over the next few decades. This book can go some way toward alleviating the fears some people may have about the destructive potential of this field of study.

Rating:
Summary: Perfectly clear - Atkinson NOT in the Drexler camp
Review: I found Atkinson's constant degradation of Drexler 'and his ilk' neither helpful nor accurate. I get the impression that he was snubbed by Drexler at a cocktail party and has never forgiven him. He rails against 'the nanoboosters' for making absurd claims of what is possible with nanotechnology and then proceeds to out do them with his own predictions.
The occasional inaccuracies (Buckminster Fuller was perfectly aware of and was indeed inspired by nature in his geodesic work: Bill needs to read Synergetics) are also annoying. He argues that mechanical nanobots are ludicrous because their small parts would break and no one would be around to fix them. Uh, if you can build something you can probably fix it - or more likely, you can just build a trillion more and not worry about it. This subject is discussed by Drexler in Nanosystems but Atkinson implies the opposite.
Outside of the near constant Drexler bashing I found Nanocosm to be a fairly well written journalistic survey of the Dr's of nanoscience and their wee doings. Published by the American Management Association, it's a self professed technology guide for venture capital execs, "a gift to the business people whose unending efforts continue to create wealth throughout the globe" ... my heros

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the rants and inaccuracies
Review: I had high hopes for this book. The writing style may grate a little, but it is accessible. He also presents some very interesting developments in nanotechnology.

However, the good parts are badly obscured by the rants (primarily against K. Eric Drexler and his views on where nanotechnology can go), inaccuracies in the basic science and technology of today, his own fantasies of the future that are wilder and less likely than much of what he rants against, and his hero-worship of anyone who hints that they agree with him about Drexler.

Some of his mistakes are real howlers. For example, he seems to believe that a particular method of cooling means that practical perpetual motion is possible. He rails repeatedly against the possibility of self-replicating assemblers, yet seems to think that in less than 15 years a small business will be able to design (and then quickly build) a self-replicating nanomachine that will be able to disassemble dust into CO2 and H2O (and the main problem will be that the business model will fail because people can take a cup of the dust-busters home from a friend and they'll reproduce until there are enough for the new home). Possible someday, maybe, but probably much later than his time scale, and certainly not possible if all his other objections happen to be valid.

I didn't mind too much the chatty style and the many irrelevant bits, but found his attitude in many of those parts a bit too smug, or even offensive. If the anti-Drexler rants and ad hominem attacks were confined to one chapter, it could possibly be ignored, but it is repeated througout until the whole experience becomes wearisome. Combined with all the other flaws, it just wasn't worth it. Unless you enjoy searching for the mistakes, illogical rants, inconsistencies, and examples of his own stupidity, avoid this book.

Rating:
Summary: I should have read the reviews
Review: I made the mistake of buying this book on impulse at a bookstore, without reading any reviews. I'll follow through by offering my comments on the book without biasing (or informing) myself by reading the other interviews first.

Atkinson did a lot of interviews for this book, and they are the highlight. He seems to do a good job of conveying the general nature of what his interviewees are working on. It was good to get a (possibly too) high-level view of what's going on in the field.

That said, my respect for the author declined steadily. He makes Eric Drexler into some kind of demon. Certainly a responsible author could question the feasibility of Drexler's ideas and his ways of promoting them, but there is no call for the sort of repeated attacks made here. A second annoyance was that the author's explanations of scientific points never seemed to ring true. Maybe he's trying to simplify drastically for his business readers, but his statements are not just simple - they are misleading. The quotes from his interviews were much better. Third, he'll often illustrate a single point with two or more metaphors, neither of which makes the point any clearer. In fact they almost seem to miss the point. Finally, he frequently tosses in his own political and cultural biases, which uniformly detract from the book.

By the way, my background is computer programming and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. I know little about nanotechnology.

Rating:
Summary: I should have read the reviews
Review: I made the mistake of buying this book on impulse at a bookstore, without reading any reviews. I'll follow through by offering my comments on the book without biasing (or informing) myself by reading the other interviews first.

Atkinson did a lot of interviews for this book, and they are the highlight. He seems to do a good job of conveying the general nature of what his interviewees are working on. It was good to get a (possibly too) high-level view of what's going on in the field.

That said, my respect for the author declined steadily. He makes Eric Drexler into some kind of demon. Certainly a responsible author could question the feasibility of Drexler's ideas and his ways of promoting them, but there is no call for the sort of repeated attacks made here. A second annoyance was that the author's explanations of scientific points never seemed to ring true. Maybe he's trying to simplify drastically for his business readers, but his statements are not just simple - they are misleading. The quotes from his interviews were much better. Third, he'll often illustrate a single point with two or more metaphors, neither of which makes the point any clearer. In fact they almost seem to miss the point. Finally, he frequently tosses in his own political and cultural biases, which uniformly detract from the book.

By the way, my background is computer programming and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. I know little about nanotechnology.

Rating:
Summary: Witty, entertaining and extremely informative!
Review: Nanotechnology has been mentioned in all sorts of places from Star Trek to Michael Chricton's Prey. While all that can be great fun, it doesn't give a true picture of what's actually happening in this emerging field. The author interviewed leading scientists and talks about their research. He also explain many applications of nanoscience that are really happening -- now or at least very, very soon. This is not science fiction -- it's top-notch science reporting from the front line. His writing is fun and full of wit. Complex concepts are made clear.

If you're looking for bland, this is the wrong book for you. The author does not shy away from controversy for sure. But, if you want to learn about nanotechnology in an extremely readable, fun book, this is the right book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Loaded with fresh views of nanotechnology's future
Review: William Illsey Atkinson's Nanocosm is an expert survey of nanotechnology and the big changes coming from small science advancements providing a series of eye-opening insights on the nature of scale and space. Nanoscience is the study of the infinitesimally small: the discoveries of nanotechnology and speculation of the nature of reality in a small, changed world make for a moving, involving title loaded with fresh views of nanotechnology's future.