From: josh@cs.rutgers.edu (J Storrs Hall)
Newsgroups: sci.nanotech
Subject: Nanosystems
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:07:54 GMT

The following is the flyleaf blurb for Nanosystems.
You can order it from Wiley by calling (800) 225-5945 ext 2497
(or call their main number (212) 850-6000 and ask to order a book).
They take Amex, Visa, MC.  $22.95 paper, 42.95 hardcover.
--JoSH

Nanosystems: Molecular machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation
By K. Eric Drexler
Wiley-Interscience

Written by a leading researcher in the field and one of its founders,
Nanosystems is the first technical introduction to molecular
nanotechnology--an emerging field that has sparked increasing
interest and controversy.  This groundbreaking book describes
fundamental physical principles, components and devices, then examines
applications including computers of unprecedented power and
manufacturing systems able to build such products molecule by
molecule.

Nanosystems presents a comprehensive overview of how molecular
manufacturing will make products by using nanoscale (billionths of a
meter) mechanical and robotic technologies to guide the placement of
molecules and atoms. Working with these fundamental building blocks of
matter will enable designers to approach the limits of the possible:
to build the smallest devices, the fastest computers, the strongest
materials, and the highest quality products. By manipulating common
molecules at high frequency, molecular manufacturing will make these
products quickly, inexpensively, and on a large scale.  Molecular
manufacturing is the key to implementing molecular nanotechnologies,
building systems to complex atomic specifications.

This landmark work first presents the basic principles of physics and
chemistry required to understand molecular machines. Then, Dr.
Drexler describes computational models of molecules as mechanical
systems, the effects of statistical mechanics, quantum uncertainty,
damage mechanisms, and energy dissipation, and the fundamentals of
mechanosynthesis--the use of mechanical devices to guide molecular
reactions.

Nanosystems then applies the analytical tools and concepts developed
in the first section to the design of nanomechanical components,
devices, and systems. It describes nanomechanical gears, bearings,
motors, sensors, logic gates, submicron 1000 MIPS computers (consuming
10e-5 times as much power as comparable computers today), and systems
able to join simple molecules to build complex products. The last
section discusses how chemical, biochemical, and proximal probe
technologies can be used to build complex molecular objects and how
this capability can be used to implement molecular manufacturing.

Bringing together physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and
computer science, Nanosystems provides an indispensable introduction
to the emerging field of molecular nanotechnology.



About the author

K. ERIC DREXLER published the first scientific paper on molecular
nanotechnology in 1981. In addition, he taught the first course on the
subject (at Stanford University) and chaired the first two
conferences. He is currently President of the Foresight Institute and
a Research Fellow of the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing. He
wrote Nanosystems while a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University
Department of Computer Science and continues to lecture at
universities and corporations in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He
received his doctoral degree in molecular nanotechnology from MlT.

Molecular nanotechnology is expected to affect areas of broad
importance, including medicine, manufacturing, and the environment. To
encourage foresight in these areas, Dr. Drexler has written for
policymakers and the public as well as for the scientific community.