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Owing to a rapidly growing public interest in nanotechnology, people are increasingly buying various books to inform themselves about nanotechnology. This paper tries to measure the public interest in nanotechnology and its relation to the public interest in other fields of knowledge by applying a new method. I combine formal network analysis of co-purchase book data with traditional content analysis. The method is successful in identifying the books that the public reads to be informed about nanotechnology, and in distinguishing between different kinds and classes of books and thereby between different interest foci and readerships and their relations. The results suggest that nanotechnology is for many their first intense contact with science and technology and that they read a great variety of different kinds of books. Rather than choose general introductions to current research written by scientists or science journalists, readers focus on forecasting and visionary literature including business guides, written by software entrepreneurs and business consultants. Unlike expert readers, who connect nanotechnology to other fields of science and engineering, the broader public connects it to visions about dissolving the human/machine distinction. Although the distinction between non-fiction and science fiction is still important for readers, border-crossing authors increasingly blur it.

Societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology have become a hot topic of public debates in many countries because both revolutionary changes and strong public concerns are expected from its development. Because nanotechnology is, at this point, mostly articulated in visionary and futuristic terms, it is difficult to apply standard methods of technology assessment and even more difficult to consider it in engineering ethics courses. In this article, the authors suggest using selected science fiction stories in the engineering ethics classroom to provide students with ethical skills and cultural knowledge required for engaging in public debates and for responsible decision making. Against the background of general debates on teaching engineering ethics, they do so by discussing the advantages and possible drawbacks of this approach and by presenting two examples of nano-science fiction classics.

Introduction / Joachim Schummer and David Baird -- I. The Drexler challenge. 1. Two cultures of nanotechnology? / Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent. 2. The Drexler-Smalley debate on nanotechnology : incommensurability at work? / Otávio Bueno -- II. The metaphysics of nanotechnology. 3. Noumenal technology : reflections on the incredible tininess of nano / Alfred Nordmann. 4. Nanotechnology and nature : on two criteria for understanding their relationship / Gregor Schiemann. 5. Small, but determined : technological determinism in nanoscience / Cyrus C. M. Mody -- III. The truth of nanoscopic images. 6. When is an image not an image? / Joseph Pitt. 7. Changes in the design of scanning tunneling microscopic images from 1980 to 1990 / Jochen Hennig -- IV. Dealing with complexity. 8. Analyzing the complexity of nanotechnology / Marc J. De Vries. 9. Nanotechnology : generalizations in an interdisciplinary field of science and technology / Martin Meyer and Osmo Kuusi -- V. Social and environmental ethics of nanotechnology. 10. What counts as a 'social and ethical issue' in nanotechnology? / Bruce V. Lewenstein. 11. The promise and threat of nanotechnology : can environmental ethics guide us? / Christopher J. Preston -- VI. Managing the risks of nanotechnology. 12. Nanosciences and their convergence with other technologies : new golden age or apocalypse? / Louis Laurent and Jean-Claude Petit. 13. Living with uncertainty : toward the ongoing normative assessment of nanotechnology / Jean-Pierre Dupuy and Alexei Grinbaum. 14. Great uncertainty about small things / Sven Ove Hansson -- VII. Public discourses on the future. 15. Bridging the gaps : science fiction in nanotechnology / José López. 16. Beyond truth : pleasure of nanofutures / Arne Hessenbruch -- VIII. Visions and public reactions to nanotechnology. 17. Narratives for nanotech : anticipating public reactions to nanotechnology / Christopher P. Toumey. 18. 'Societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology' : meanings, interest groups, and social dynamics / Joachim Schummer.