Martin Smalley worked as a professional research scientist from 1980 to 2000, with the exception of two years when he trained and worked as a physics teacher. In the late 1980s, after spells in theoretical physics at the Universities of Erlangen- Nürnberg and Oxford, he started investigating clays at the Physical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University, and the Department of Polymer Chemistry, Kyoto University. He became interested in polymers on an ERATO (Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology) project in Japan in the mid-1990s, and pursued his studies of colloids and polymers as a lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London. This book summarizes the 36 papers (21 experimental, 15 theoretical) he has written on clays and colloids.