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“You really had to be there,” said university friends when charitably lending
incomprehensible notes for missed lectures. Fortunately for anyone studying
wetting, adhesion or polymer flows, that is not the case with the 1994 Dirac
Memorial Lecture given by Nobel prize-winner Pierre-Gilles de Gennes. Soft
Interfaces gives a thorough—and indeed enhanced—account of
proceedings that will prove a valuable 114 pages for researchers in the field.
Tough if you’re not a specialist—the large number of equations excludes
you. Good as background for students and possible research inspiration for
academics, the only complaint is that it should have been out at least a year
ago. Published by Cambridge University Press, £14.95/$19.95, ISBN 0
521 56417 4.