This book was originally conceived as a second edition of my earlier work Carbon nanotubes and related structures: new materials for the twenty-first century (Cambridge University Press, 1999). However, the field has expanded rapidly since 1999, and the tale grew in the telling, to the point where I realized I had essentially written a new book. The new title reflects this, as well as the fact that most of the material concerned with ‘related structures’ has been omitted: the book now focuses almost entirely on carbon nanotubes themselves. As with the first book, I have benefited enormously from the freely given assistance of colleagues from around the world, many of whom have also provided copies of images and preprints. The following list almost certainly fails to include all who have helped me, so I apologize for any omissions. I also stress that any errors which remain in the book are my responsibility alone.

I wish to thank: Pulickel Ajayan, Lizzie Brown, Marko Burghard, Hui-Ming Cheng, Hongjie Dai, Walt De Heer, Cees Dekker, Chris Ewels, John Gallop, Jason Hafner, Michael Holzinger, Martin Hulman, Kaili Jiang, Hiromichi Kataura, Ian Kinloch, Ralph Krupke, Alan Lau, Cheol Jin Lee, Jannik Meyer, Geoff Mitchell, Pasha Nikolaev, Henk Postma, Zhifeng Ren, Daniel Resasco, Andrew Rinzler, Milo Shaffer, Wenhui Song, Kazu Suenaga, Sander Tans, Kenneth Teo, Edman Tsang, Daniel Ugarte, Bruce Weisman and Karen Winey.

I would also like to thank Cambridge University Press for their encouragement and patience.

Most importantly, I want to thank my wife, Elaine, and daughters Katy and Laura for their continuing love and support.