Reviews of Nanotech Pioneers

Fellow blogger Darrell Brookstein has written the first customer review of The Nanotech Pioneers: Where are they taking us? for Amazon.com. He has also posted it, almost word for word, in his blog. He calls my book the “best history of nanotechnology ever written.”

Since nanotechnology has only been called nanotechnology for twenty years, you might think that it’s a little early for a history. The technology is actually a lot older; unconscious nanotechnology was used in manufacturing items like medieval stained glass and the Vikings' carbon steel blades. Still, I did not think of Nanotech Pioneers as a history until after it was written. I guess it just came out that way because that’s the way my mind works. Only very rarely does a totally new idea appear in the world—none of us are nearly as original as we think we are. So the way to really understand a concept is to see how it has developed evolutionarily over time.

For the record, Darrell’s review was unsolicited. In giving my book to relatives, I have, however, suggested that they might just consider posting a review on Amazon. They kind of chuckle at this nervously, assuming I am kidding. Wouldn't it be kind of, um, unethical to post a review of your cousin’s, nephew’s, brother’s, father’s, son’s book? Hey, but what’s a public forum for? The political bloggers at Daily Kos (left wing) or Free Republic (right wing) have been known to get together and post 100 negative reviews of books from people they don’t like, without having first read the book. Now that’s unethical.

Though I thank Darrell for his kind words, my favorite review of the book was from my sister. Rather too personal for Amazon.com, it came in a letter. If you have never had a sister, you should adopt one. A mother’s love is unconditional, but it has an amnesiac quality that discounts it a little. She doesn’t remember the labor pains you put her through. She forgets all the bad things you ever did and exaggerates all the good things. A mother’s memory is never really very clear as regards her offspring. A sister, however, remembers with agonizing clarity every mean, nasty thing you’ve ever done to her. And she loves you anyway.

The money quote from my sister: “If your purpose in writing it was to get techno-phobes like me excited about the possibilities of nanotechnology and less afraid of it, then you did a fabulous job.”