Soft Matter: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #652

by Tom McLeish

Soft matter science is concerned with soft materials such as polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, and foams, and has emerged as a rich interdisciplinary field over the last 30 years. Drawing on physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering, soft matter links fundamental scientific ideas to everyday phenomena. One such example is 'polymers', encountered in plastic materials and melted cheese, which illustrate how 'sliminess' emerges from the flow and form of giant molecules.

This Very Short Introduction delves into the field of soft matter, looking beneath the appearances of matter into its inner structure. Tom McLeish shows how Brownian Motion - the random local motion of molecules that gives rise to 'heat' - is an underlying principle of soft matter. From hair conditioner to honey, he discusses how the shared physical properties and characteristics of these materials influence the way they behave, and their industrial applications.

ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: Science, Physics, Chemistry, Nonfiction

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Tom McLeish is Professor of Physics and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Durham University, following former academic positions at Cambridge, Sheffield and Leeds. He has won awards for his research on the molecular theory of complex fluid flow, and currently works on applications of physics to biology, and topics in science policy and history. He is also involved in science-communication via radio, TV and schools lectures. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Physical Society and the Royal Society.

Reviews

[Michael Ries · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Soft Matter A Very Short Introduction” by Prof Tom McLeish is an absolutely fabulous book. Soft matter is a subset of condensed matter, and simply put, it’s matter that is soft and squidgy, with this including polymers, gels, liquids, colloids, foams, liquid crystals and indeed life itself, biological matter. Each chapter is titled after some aspect of soft matter, we have “Milkiness”, Sliminess”, “Soapiness”, “Pearliness” and “Liveliness”. The author is a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a prestigious award given for, “substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge”, and he won the Edwards Prize for his work on soft matter. The book is a joy to read, full of the author’s contagious enthusiasm for the subject. If you love physics then you should read this book, as you will be amazed by how the maths of soft matter connects to quantum mechanics and general relativity! I had to resist reducing my review score by one star, for my only criticism is, as a professor of soft matter physics myself, I wish I’d written such a wonderful book.

[Павел Качнов · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should come with a truth-in-advertising disclaimer: if you’re expecting a smooth, engaging entry point into soft matter physics, this is not it. The “Very Short Introduction” label suggests something accessible, concise, and designed to spark interest for a general reader. What you actually get is a dense, meandering text that often reads like a mid-20th-century Soviet physics manual – formula-heavy, structurally dry, and with long theoretical detours before touching anything practical.

It’s not that the science is wrong or uninteresting in itself – the author clearly knows the subject – but the presentation feels inconsiderate to the audience this series claims to target. Concepts are introduced with all the technical weight of a specialist monograph, then dropped without delivering the “so what?” connection that would make them resonate. Case in point: dozens of pages on nematic, smectic, and cholesteric phases before finally mentioning LCD technology – and even then, with no explanation of how the colours in an LCD are actually generated.

The writing buries the reader under detail without providing narrative reward, which made it a chore to pick up. In fact, it sat on my windowsill gathering dust for half a year before I forced myself to finish it. By the end, I felt more relief than fascination.

If you’re already a physicist looking for a compact refresher, you might appreciate the density. But if you’re a curious reader looking for an inspiring introduction – one that leaves you wanting to learn more – this book will likely drain that curiosity instead.

Verdict: A technically competent but tone-deaf “introduction” that forgets to meet its reader halfway.

[Edwin Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great introduction

[Nadvornix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good introduction to less-well-known parts of material science (colloids, liquid crystals, polymers, foams) where the important building blocks are somewhere between micro (molecules) and macro (visible) scale.