Author: Paul J. Steinhardt
Genre: Science, Nonfiction, Physics
Format: Audiobook
The author, Dr. Steinhardt, has managed to take one of the most uninteresting branches of chemistry and has written a book about it, which is exciting and fun to read. I have never enjoyed crystallography, but the quest to find the new kind of matter is an adventure that you want to don’t want to miss.
The book explores Paul’s efforts first to conceive a new kind of matter, which, according to prevailing laws, shouldn’t exist. The task in hand starts with few patterns on paper and then translates to the study of a possible arrangement of crystals in three dimensions. Paul names this new kind of matter as “quasicrystals.”
The second half book is about Paul’s decades’ long effort to find a natural quasicrystal. The quest takes him to some of the most remote and hostile parts of the world.
The story of the discovery of quasicrystals is almost like a real-life Indiana Jones adventure. It involves a professor, who solves a real jigsaw puzzle of arranging crystals in five-fold symmetry, and after solving the problem, goes across the world in search of a mysterious artifact, where he encounters corrupt and deceitful Russians. Against all the odds, he finally manages to crack the case.
The whole saga is really a testament to the human imagination and nature itself. It’s a definitive example of how nature is full of patterns, and all we need to do to recognize these patterns. Sometimes it’s not easy, as in this case. But human ingenuity also has no bounds. For example, how the author and his colleagues manage to discover the embedded Golden ratio and Fibonacci in the Penrose tiling is impressive, and recognizing the five-fold symmetry in Penrose tiling is itself a considerable feat.
The book has a non-linear structure and jumps between different times. It complements the story as the pieces of the puzzle are discovered in different time and space. This kind of narration also provides a little touch of a thriller to the story and keeps you guessing from where and how the next clue will arrive. And I think this kind of narration style was perfect for a story like this. It keeps the readers interested and hooked.
The only possible flaw I noticed was in the second half of the book when the author goes to Russia on his excavation for the natural quasicrystal. I felt that this section of the book was dragged and a little too slow.
But apart from that, the book was quite enjoyable, and I always feel if a nonfiction like this can educate and entertain you, it’s no small feat. It’s definitely worth a read.
PS: I’d suggest that you do not listen to the audiobook. The audiobook is good, but there are a lot of companion images and reference material that you’d need to refer to while listening. Which is quite distracting and not always possible.
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