Amazon.com (ISBN 0316738581, Hardcover)

K. Eric Drexler envisions a world in which poverty and hunger no longer exist, because food can be made out of thin air, and we never grow old, because cells can be regenerated as swiftly as they "age." Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the molecular level, is what he's betting will make it happen. Ed Regis tells the story of Drexler's forays into this new science, showing the scientist's attempts to convince his colleagues that he hasn't descended into pulp fiction. He also fills in a lot of the historical and technical background, from the 19th-century arguments over whether atoms exist to modern experiments that have isolated and manipulated single atoms. Regis's prose is clear and straightforward, but not without a sly sense of humor. Apart from Drexler's own Engines of Creation, this is the book on nanotechnology to read.