NanoDust

What is From Dust to the NanoAge ?

It is a history of microprocessors. The chip is the technology that has changed the world, and the microprocessor is its heart. Today we make a distinction between digital natives and analogical natives: the difference between the two is in fact the microprocessor; it is present in every single one of our devices today.

Why did you write From Dust to the NanoAge, a history of microprocessors?

At university I studied microelectronics, but I wasn’t good enough to design chips with more than a dozen logic gates. At the same time I was working as a journalist and I was able to follow this sector since the end of the ‘80s, often outside of Italy and directly in the factories.

When I had bought almost all the books about the subject I realized that there were none that were truly comprehensive; so I decided to write one myself.

As far as I know, there is no complete history that is commercially available. And not only that, but all the partial histories taken together do not cover all the subject matters nor are they uniform.

In 2001 I published a preliminary version for EDP, a small technical publisher in Milan. Then I began preparing a more complete version, helped along by various sources of information that I had had access to over the years.

Why is there no From Dust to the NanoAge in Italian?

From 2003 to 2006 I proposed the book to Apogeo, Mondadori Informatica, Bompiani and others. Despite the work done together with each publisher, at the end they all quit the project, claiming lack of interest and or that the book would have sold few copies.

I also tried proposing it to the Italian marketing of Intel and Amd, but there wasn’t any interest.

So I decided to propose it to a worldwide audience, investing some Euros in the enterprise. Having worked with several translators, the style may not be homogeneous, but the quality has always been high: if there are any oversights, the blame lays with the editor, that is, me.

Why are you selling the book with Lulu?

It is an excellent service that I have used with other publications. I am fully satisfied with the service and I predict a bright future. I wouldn’t exclude leaving the book exclusively with Lulu and foregoing traditional publishers.

Why isn’t there an e-book version?

I am hoping to find one or more editors outside of Italy. The paper format will allow me to have a small circulation; the medium-high price should earn me a small amount that I can reinvest into the rest of the project.

Why is only the first part available

Translating a book is time-consuming and expensive. After a year of work I was able to get a lot of material together and I decided to begin: the first volume starts with the story of Ray Holt and the CADC (1968) and Faggin’s Intel 4004 (1971) up until the turning point of the 1993 Pentium bug.

The entire plan for the book is available on-line, and ends with multicore microprocessors, which I consider to be the swan song of the microelectronics that we know now.

Have you met Holt and Faggin?

Yes. Ray Holt was very cooperative and open. With Federico Faggin, who I interviewed at the beginning of the 90s, so far I haven’t been as lucky and I’ve only been able to speak with him on the telephone.

Who is the ideal reader of From Dust to the NanoAge?

Most of all I count on being of interest to whoever wants to know about we’ve gone from an analogical world to a digital one. The so-called digital natives of today don’t know how we’ve gotten to this point. From our point of view, my story is about people, secrets, and failures; from the world of the chip, it is a diary of a newborn, learning how to live. Obviously, it would appeal to microelectronic enthusiasts between the ages of 30 and 60 that have watched the evolution of this sector. But also all those enthusiasts who want to understand a world that appears normal but that is actually extraordinarily bizarre.

What is available on-line?

The NanoDust site […] contains news, resources, user-generated content and premium areas for readers. Some pages have been entrusted to the services of Google books. Various sources, presentations and short essays have been available for some time in Italian.

What else does the project include?

The second part of the « history » and Mirmecomputing : a science fiction novel in which the Internet is taken over by an alternative technology controlled by…ants. I’ve been working on this idea since the ‘70s, when Roberto Vacca –now a friend of mine- published the essay « Medieval Next Adventure» and the novelization of « Death of the Megalopolis».

What do you hope for the future?

The people and companies I write about could contribute to a better presentation of facts and of technologies. Selling even a small number of copies would accelerate the preparation of the second part of the book. Finally, some specific interest could bring Myrmecomputing into print; it’s an ingenuous novella mocking Big Brother and the dangers of the Internet.