Soft Matter Book Review

The author, like myself was at Durham University. I was fortunate to be in the famous Applied Physics Self Assembly Group (aka Langmuir Films) led by Professor GG Roberts and subsequently Professor Mike Petty. As you sometimes do I checked the Index and References for my name or either of the named above: not there, but I suspect the publishers had had a page limit for these pocket size books.

In the 1980’s one early form of Self Assembly involved the creation of layers of the soap Cadmium Stearate with its amphiphilic structure. Development of the base chemistry to more advanced molecules is covered in Chapter 4, labelled Gelifocation and Soapiness. Chapter 5 addresses another British success, Liquid Crystals, which has obviously been an important part of computer display development. Again a strong finish this time on rheology, reprising Chapter 3. Liveliness concludes Chapter 6 and rounds the book out for a popular audience

Overall, though I have not read it in detail the jolly style very much suits the “A Very Short Introduction” series. The monochrome pictures are helpful and there’s a bit on Einstein too so Tom is probably a Physicist or more likely a Natural Philosopher

(also on Amazon)