This brilliant work heralds the new age of nanotechnology, which will give us thorough and inexpensive control of the structure of matter.Drexler examines the enormous implications of these developments for medicine, the economy, and the environment, and makes astounding yet well-founded projections for the future."

Nanotechnology is the science of designing and building machines at the molecular and atomic levels. Dr. Hall -- a leading researcher on the frontiers of nanotechnology who has designed for NASA -- describes nanotechnology in a very accessible way, so that anyone can understand what it's about, what it could do, and what it can't do. He puts it into historical context, explaining how previous technological developments have affected us, how nanotechnology fits into the historical trends for technologies ranging from motors to medicine, and how the continuation of these trends, with...