LAUSR

skyrmions makes them highly stable entities, allowing individual skyrmions to be used to store information. One of the chapters in this book is devoted to so-called racetrackmemory devices which can implement skyrmion technology and which are starting to look less far-fetched as potential practical technologies. This edited volume begins with a description of the important topological ideas that underpin this field, as well as the necessary concepts inmagnetism. Subsequent chapters discuss the various experimental techniques used to study skyrmions and also issues such as the nature of excitations and dynamics, as well as how skyrmions can be guided in channels and in nanostructures. A final chapter explores whether skyrmions could turn up in systems other than magnets, such as in the quantum Hall effect, in cold atoms or liquid crystals. The level of clarity is very high and the book is beautifully produced, though as often in edited volumes there is a certain amount of repetition as introductory concepts are repeated in different chapters. Nevertheless, with numerous (often colourful) illustrations and examples of recent work adorning every chapter, this book is required reading for anyone working in this field.