Order of Magnitude

“Has a fundamental truth, perhaps, been hidden not in a new philosophy, but merely an order of magnitude away from our scientific knowledge at the time?” Written in 1966—way before personal computers existed—this novel speculates on the development of computers with smaller components derived from bioengineering, using small helical biological molecules. Young electrical engineer Wayne Jackson had the idea and when Karle Kreitzer, a famous molecular biologist from Sierra University, seeks to join Electro-Dynamics, a top-secret research project is begun.  But then experiments start to go wrong and Dr. Kreitzer blames young Jackson, managing to get him removed from his own project.

The conversations and peregrinations of Wayne as he seeks to be reinstated and prove what the trouble with the experiments is, lead us on a romp through many branches of science and engineering, from the known to the speculative, all the while painting evocative scenes of California nature and architecture.

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