Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading
Review: "Nanotime" by Bart Kosko (Avon Publishers, 1997) provides a gloomy but unfortunately reasonably realistic version of the future. Sure, this book is not the first dystopia but usually, one can laugh off the gloomy predictions based on a non-scientist writer's frequent mumbo-jumbo-type free and non-sensical use of scientific words. It is not so easy to dismiss gloomy predictions coming from a professional scientist who is actually trying to design all these gadgets that his heroes and anti-heroes use. It is all too easy for one crazy dictator to start a major war and murder millions. Sci fi? So far, yes, but, alas, only too realistic. However, gloomy does not necessary mean pessimistic: the main purpose of this book is not to scare but to warn: the 21 century will definitely bring forth technological progress as our 20th did, but this technological progress does not necessarily mean that people will be happier. Our century has shown that technological progress means an easier Big Brother-type control, that progress makes it easier for one crazy dictator of a poor country to launch a war. We should be aware of it. We should try to avoid negative consequences of progress, but we should also be realistically prepared for the negative consequences. This is what Bart Kosko does, he is not only designing the gadgets, he is also on a political mission, both in his newspaper and magazine article and in this book, a mission to warn and to avoid. And after all, as bloody and gloomy as the future gets, the book ends of the positive note: the hero, often defeated, managed to survived with new micro-chip-induced power of nanotime reasoning in his brain (thence the title); not all is lost, and maybe he will even get his girlfriend and child back, and maybe the world will still become - if not a paradise on Earth, but at least - a (slightly) better place. But it won't be easy. It is a very thought-provoking book, definitely worth reading. Vladik Kreinovich
Rating: 
Summary: a very though-provoking book
Review: "Nanotime" by Bart Kosko (Avon Publishers, 1997) provides a gloomy but unfortunately reasonably realistic version of the future. Sure, this book is not the first dystopia but usually, one can laugh off the gloomy predictions based on a non-scientist writer's frequent mumbo-jumbo-type free and non-sensical use of scientific words. It is not so easy to dismiss gloomy predictions coming from a professional scientist who is actually trying to design all these gadgets that his heroes and anti-heroes use. It is all too easy for one crazy dictator to start a major war and murder millions. Sci fi? So far, yes, but, alas, only too realistic. However, gloomy does not necessary mean pessimistic: the main purpose of this book is not to scare but to warn: the 21 century will definitely bring forth technological progress as our 20th did, but this technological progress does not necessarily mean that people will be happier. Our century has shown that technological progress means an easier Big Brother-type control, that progress makes it easier for one crazy dictator of a poor country to launch a war. We should be aware of it. We should try to avoid negative consequences of progress, but we should also be realistically prepared for the negative consequences. This is what Bart Kosko does, he is not only designing the gadgets, he is also on a political mission, both in his newspaper and magazine article and in this book, a mission to warn and to avoid. And after all, as bloody and gloomy as the future gets, the book ends of the positive note: the hero, often defeated, managed to survived with new micro-chip-induced power of nanotime reasoning in his brain (thence the title); not all is lost, and maybe he will even get his girlfriend and child back, and maybe the world will still become - if not a paradise on Earth, but at least - a (slightly) better place. But it won't be easy. It is a very thought-provoking book, definitely worth reading. Vladik Kreinovich
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: A lot of poor quality novels are "pushed" out into the SF world and this is by far one of the poorest. The plot is superficial as are all of the characters. The science is really minimal and the projected future just shades of gray.Neither hard core scientific SF nor fantasy SF fans will get much out of this book which has only one advantage - a snazzy, modern title.
Rating: 
Summary: Nano Rating for Nanotime
Review: A lot of poor quality novels are "pushed" out into the SF world and this is by far one of the poorest. The plot is superficial as are all of the characters. The science is really minimal and the projected future just shades of gray. Neither hard core scientific SF nor fantasy SF fans will get much out of this book which has only one advantage - a snazzy, modern title.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: I enjoyed this book. We are clearly headed for an age where all digital data will be optimized. I look forward to having a "peanut-sized" personal digital assistant which can access all the world's data, and help make sense of the situations at hand. The way the story weaves in value structures and the silicon codification of our "essence" is also nicely crafted. This book presents topics which each of us will deal with in our lifetimes. An important read.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: I enjoyed this book. We are clearly headed for an age where all digital data will be optimized. I look forward to having a "peanut-sized" personal digital assistant which can access all the world's data, and help make sense of the situations at hand. The way the story weaves in value structures and the silicon codification of our "essence" is also nicely crafted. This book presents topics which each of us will deal with in our lifetimes. An important read.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most interesting books I've read lately.
Review: In nanotime there are some interesting ideas about what the future may hold, even if they are not to be entirely believed, according to "What will be". :-) It was fun, and I liked. It is a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting but shallow read
Review: It is the year 2030 in this novel, and oil has become much scarcer and more expensive. John Grant may have come up with a solution to the energy crises, and he is a part of a complicated plot that skips around a lot and is hard to follow at times. There is war in the Middle East (what's new!), and this war does spread, a picture of a not rosy future. I found that Bart Kosko did not do very well in character development and also did poorly in describing places and scenery. It seems this novel should have been longer to flesh it out. In this book you will read about mind transfers to computer chips, artificial wombs, nanotechnology, and other technology about thirty years down the road, and all of this was done in a satisfactory way, but there is a lot more better science fiction out there to read, unless of course the subject matter of this book should interest you.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Kudos to Bart Kosko for his first fiction endeavor with "Nanotime". Set in the near future where oil is scarce and the world is on the brink of World War III, John Grant is hunted for capture and incarceration by US and Israeli intelligence agents after discovering a new kind of molecule that can create an unlimited supply of hydrogen fuel from water. He is eventually recruited by the Israeli Mossad to fight against a Sufi terrorist named Hamrid Tabriz whos main act of brutality is to replace the brains of his victims with nanochips that command individuals to commit acts of economic terrorism and murder. One aspect of the story I liked was Grant's computerized version of John Stuart Mill (nicknamed "Jism") who assists Grant throughout the book and saves his life a few times as well. Nanotime is defintely a tour-de-force for Kosko. It clearly shows how much of an accomplished author Bart Kosko is and is definitely worth adding to your library. The plot for the story is believable not to mention the future Kosko depicts in his book and the story flows very well which kept my interest peaked throughout the entire time I read it and I had a very hard time putting this book down. Good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Try, But Get a Better Editor Next Time
Review: Some scientists can "cross over" and become brilliant authors of fiction, and others... well... let's just say that Bart Kosko may get there eventually with the help of a good editor. The first thing that greets your eyes in this book is the map of the Middle East, Turkey, and south Europe. There is a body of water labeled "Capsian Sea". Come on, Avon--has none of your editors heard of the Caspian Sea? Off to a questionable start, we soldier bravely on, stuck on a plane flight with nothing else to read. Suspension of disbelief kicks in quickly--backing up someone's entire brain to a chip; a highly implausible Saudi missile attack on Israel (which has 300 nuclear missiles ready to launch); dialogue that ranges from passably believable to stilted and forced, in the best pulp tradition. Then there is the matter of our protagonist, John, whose wife gets her brain swapped out for a super chip. When he notices the obvious surgical scars on her scalp while making love, she immediately attacks him (Curses! He's uncovered our evil plot!) and he is forced to kill her in self-defense, a gruesome act which is over with very quickly. Lucky thing this naked nano-tech scientist happens to have the killing instincts of a trained assassin. Oh, and was there any remorse? Any tears? None that we notice. This is a pulp hero straight out of the 1920s: a Doc Savage type who never displays any emotion except for anger at traffic cops. Well, we could go on, but you get the picture. Despite the utter lack of characterization and the halfway plausible plot line, we give this book 3 stars because bad as the fiction is, the science is top-rate. Kosko knows his stuff when it comes to computers, and clearly he's thought a lot about what the world may be like forty years hence. Keep it up, Dr. Kosko, and here's hoping you find a better editor to help you polish your next book.
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