I will describe our explorations of carbon nanotube science and technology from a soft materials perspective. We first created stable dispersions of purified single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (NaDDBS), and then studied their structure and rheology in suspension, demonstrating interconnected networks of stiff filaments. Our attempts to induce nematic liquid crystalline alignment of SWNTs in suspension did not succeed, but eventually led us to create a new class of nanocomposite: nematic nanotube gels. These gels exhibit rich physical properties due to a coupling between the nematic alignment and the polymer network elasticity.