Soft Matter

Roberto Piazza says: “Physics should be made simple enough to be amusing, but not so trivial as to spoil the fun.” This is exactly the approach of this book in making the science of ‘soft matter’ relevant to everyday life things such as the food we eat, the plastic we use, the concrete we build with, the cells we are made of.

• cells as soft materials
• complex fluids jamming
• plastics and polymers explained
• the physics of biological matter
• understanding polymer dynamics

From the reviews:

“Roberto Piazza provides one of the first books that aim to introduce the topic to the general reader. It is well written, with a playful Italian style, featuring cultured digressions and interesting footnotes. … audience for this enjoyable book will be the famous ‘general reader’, most likely in actuality to be the interested specialist, working in this or closely related fields. … It could be used as an introductory textbook … . Overall, this book is very informative and written with considerable flair and enthusiasm.” (Ian Hamley, Chemistry World, June, 2011)

“Soft Matter offers excellent general reading for anyone interested in colloid and surfactant science or biopolymers. Piazza (condensed matter physics, Politecnico di Milano, Italy) introduces these scientific areas and relevant concepts and ideas by incorporating numerous examples from ‘everyday life.’ … the book provides more-detailed explanations for the scientific terms used in the text. Overall, an interesting, clearly written, lighthearted approach to an important research field in physics. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels.” (H. Giesche, Choice, Vol. 49 (1), September, 2011)

“The book strikes the right balance between historical context and scientific content, and it should appeal to PHYSICS TODAY readers. … The book’s glossary alone is a valuable resource that many students entering the field will likely turn to while taking courses and after incomprehensible seminar. I am certainly going to make this excellent book part of the required reading for all students taking my introductory class on the subject.” (Daniel Blair, Physics Today, December, 2011)

“Roberto Piazza wrote a beautiful book on soft matter. … The overall style of the book is very clear, peppered with interesting anecdotes, historical vignettes … which make its reading a delight. … Piazza’s book is excellent, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to an interested lay audience as wellas to physics students, or natural scientists in general, who are about to embark on a more detailed course on soft matter and biophysics. … a fascinating read even for a working scientist … .” (R. Podgornik, Journal of Biological Physics, March, 2012)

“While I was familiar with some of the more common concepts, the author really provided some very good original explanations. In contrast to some other popular science books which simply tell you the conclusions, this books actually explains enough that I felt like I understood where in general the conclusions came from. I liked the way the author could capture key concepts in succinct and memorable phrases.” (Amazon, March, 2012)

• Dipto. Ingegneria Nucleare, Centro Studi Nucleari Enrico Fermi, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

  Roberto Piazza

Roberto Piazza trained as a physicist at the school of Vittorio Degiorgio, and is now a professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, Associate Editor of the European Physical Journal E and coordinator of the European Space Agency's Topical Team for "Applications of colloids in microgravity" of the European Space Agency. He has made important contributions to research on nanoparticle suspensions, polymer and surfactant solutions and  biological macromolecules. He is not only a gifted physicists, but equally well versed in history and literature.

Policies and ethics