THIS is a book about two men who shaped our generation. The first, Gerard K. O’Neill, drew up more or less workable plans for colonies in space. The second, O’Neill’s student K. Eric Drexler, dreamed of mastering matter at the molecular scale to build the world and the body anew.
Forty years on, and through the lens of Patrick McCray’s thoughtful, meticulous history, it is clear that O’Neill and Drexler changed our world more profoundly and completely than their critics thought possible. At the same time, their influence was far less direct and predictable than they or their supporters expected.…
