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Rating: 
Summary: Bible for liquid crystals!
Review: Like every book by de Gennes, this book is a classic! This latest edition in a "must have" text for everyone even remotely associated with liquid crystals. The text is written in a self contained fashion, but the mathematics and physics is of advanced level, and to fully appreciate the content one must have some grip on statistical mechanics, tensor and vector algebra, electromagnetism and continuum physics. Thus it is ideal for physicists, a rewarding challenge for chemists and starting researchers. To get a simple understanding of liquid crystals (without chemical and mathematical equations), a text by Peter J. Collins (Liquid Crystals: Nature's delicate phase of matter) is highly recommended. For people interested in synthesis of liquid crystals, this text has almost nothing to offer and maybe another text by Collins is more useful. Another important text on the physics of liquid crystals is by Chandershekar. But bottomline is while you may want to look at other texts for specific needs (synthesis or display devices), The Physics of Liquid Crystals by de Gennes is the book one must have and one must read to make a living in this area. (of course, I will read the whole text too....)
Rating:
Summary: Bible for liquid crystals!
Review: Like every book by de Gennes, this book is a classic! This latest edition in a "must have" text for everyone even remotely associated with liquid crystals. The text is written in a self contained fashion, but the mathematics and physics is of advanced level, and to fully appreciate the content one must have some grip on statistical mechanics, tensor and vector algebra, electromagnetism and continuum physics. Thus it is ideal for physicists, a rewarding challenge for chemists and starting researchers. To get a simple understanding of liquid crystals (without chemical and mathematical equations), a text by Peter J. Collins (Liquid Crystals: Nature's delicate phase of matter) is highly recommended. For people interested in synthesis of liquid crystals, this text has almost nothing to offer and maybe another text by Collins is more useful. Another important text on the physics of liquid crystals is by Chandershekar. But bottomline is while you may want to look at other texts for specific needs (synthesis or display devices), The Physics of Liquid Crystals by de Gennes is the book one must have and one must read to make a living in this area. (of course, I will read the whole text too....)
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