Synopsis: The "Bible" for 21st Century Bioengineering.

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.

Links to Nanomedicine @ Amazon, @ Landis Biosciences, @ The Foresight Institute