1) Engines of Creation: The Coming Area of Nanotechnology, (1987) by Erik Drexler
Published more than 20 years ago, the book is still highly relevant. It is particularly suitable for the general audience. It “examines the enormous implications of these developments for medicine, the economy, and the environment, and makes astounding yet well-founded projections for the future”. I highly recommend this book for beginners. It covers many areas from MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), molecular-scale manufacturing, nanomedicine, computational nanotechnology, to biomedical nanotechnology. This book has lasting impressions on a wide range of audience, from scientists to science fiction writers.
2) Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation, (1992) by Erik Drexler
To be honest, I did not like this book when I read it for the first time in 1999 It is very dense and highly technical. When I read it again in 2006, I had gained some more understanding and experiences about the field and could understand much more. It is still very technical and requires a great deal of knowledge on chemistry, physics, and engineering. But it is the most throughout treatment of the subject and an excellent guide to the field.
3) Nanomedicine: Volume I – Basic Capabilities, Robert A Freitas,
I love this book. I won it as a prize in a poster competition at a Gordon Research Conference. It was very useful for my graduate research. I was doing research on transport at nanoscale level inside biological cells. The book served as a reference and also as an inspiration. It lay the foundation for nanomedicine, i.e. the use of nano-sized programmable machines, constructed by molecular nanotechnology in medicine applications.
I will let the capsule summary from the book website to speak for itself: “The book describes the set of basic capabilities of molecular machine systems that may be required by many, if not most, medical nanorobotic devices, including the physical, chemical, thermodynamic, mechanical, and biological limits of such devices. Specific topics include the abilities to recognize, sort and transport important molecules; sense the environment; alter shape or surface texture; generate onboard energy to power effective robotic functions; communicate with doctors, patients, and other nanorobots; navigate throughout the human body; manipulate microscopic objects and move about inside a human body; and timekeep, perform computations, disable living cells and viruses, and operate at various pressures and temperatures.”
There are a lot of general descriptions of nanotechnology in the book. For instance, Chapter II (available online) provides a thorough description of molecular manufacturing.
I also bought the second volume in the series, Nanomedicine: Vol II A Biocompatibility .It is also a good book, although the scope of the book is narrower than Vol I. It focuses mainly on the compatibility of nanoscale robotic devices with human organs, tissues, cells, and biochemical systems, in other words, how to make nanodevices safe to operate in human body.
Other books that are also good introductory books to nanotechnology are
- Nanotechnology: Science, Innovation and Opportunity, Lynn Foster
- Introduction to Nanotechnology, Poole and Owens
