Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms [Paperback]

I found it a casual, yet enjoyable read; it threads gently through the prerequisite background, glossing over the specific details to keep the primary focus of the book intact; as it turned out, this didn't affect my enjoyment at all, while providing lots of jumping-off points for the interested observer to research further.

Managing to not get distracted by the fact that such things as "electron shells" and "thermochromatics", it introduces the reader (educated as they may or may not be) to the concept of a kind of material whose properties can be changed at will, by humans (not just nature). The core concept at hand is "quantum dots", and the text returns over and over again to this, diverging occasionally to provide anecdotes, or ways these semi-magical materials have already been (or soon, could be) used.

Overall, I felt the book a good read; if you're looking for an introduction into the world of quantum dots, dynamically modifiable materials, and science the likes of which one would formerly have expected from science fiction. It's not a book in which can be found explicit technical details, though there's more than a hundred references in the end-of-book bibliography; for that alone, it would be a perfect entry point for research.

Highly recommended.

McCarthy is facile with language, as might be expected from a writer of fiction. But while the reading flows easily, the first section suffers from an uneven handling of the material. For example, McCarthy delays the discussion of atomic orbitals until the middle of the book, and even then it's a watered-down introduction with the reader directed to a freshman chemistry textbook for more information. Given the complexity of the topic, I felt he should have assumed a certain level of reader compentency, start with a more detailed review of the atom with better diagrams of orbitals and material characteristics, then build from there and drop the "monkey on limbs" analogy. In contrast to some areas of hand-holding explanation, some quotes from physicists, given without further explanation, assume a certain level of sophistication from readers:

"In general, high temperatures tend to equal more interactions, because there are a lot more blackbody photons emitted from hot surfaces, which can then be absorbed and destroy atomic superpositions. But photon-photon interactions have such a low cross section you don't have to worry about it for optical quantum states. A photon that's in a quantum superposition is therefore going to be a lot more stable at room temperature." (p. 71)

Perhaps it's praise to McCarthy that I wanted more of the first 100 pages -- like a thorough introduction to atoms and how material properties arise, side-by-side diagrams of natural and artificial atoms in terms of scale, electron density plots, more details on the research, etc. It's fascinating stuff and there are references at the end of the book.

The speculative portion of the book, although it occasionally veers from the focus on programmable matter, is well-written and thought-provoking. McCarthy notes that the interviewed researchers are reluctant to speculate, and he steps into that void and presents some possibilities. One chapter describes a hypothetical construct for handling an array of quantum of dots: a "Wellstone Fiber" invented and submitted for a patent by McCarthy and his partner.

Back in the late 80s, K. Eric Drexler, referenced at least twice in "Hacking Matter," used his book "Engines of Creation" to speculate on possible directions for nanotechnology, well ahead of actual technical developments. While some of Drexler's ideas may not be realistic, he did galvanize interest in the subject. I can't help but think McCarthy is trying to play that role for artificial atoms and the funding of condensed matter physics research. For those of us who don't think that much about material science, this book provides a good wake-up call in the form of an entertaining read.