Customer Reviews

Algebraic Graph Theory (Cambridge Mathematical Library)

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I found this book very clear, concise, and well written. Most proofs seemed effortless on both the author's and reader's part. Moreover, I found the content very interesting, especially the results on the spectrum of a graph, which simply represents the eigenvalues (and their multiplicities) of the adjacency matrix (although recently it has been defined in terms of the normalized incidence matrix). It amazed me just how much mathematics can be put to bear on such a simple notion of vertices and connections between them. The only downside to this book is that algebraic graph theory has moved in many new directions since the first edition (the second edition mostly states some recent results at the end of each chapter), and the interested reader may want to supplement this book or follow up this book with the following: "Spectral Graph Theory", by Fan Chung, "Algebraic Graph Theory", by Godsil et al., and "Modern Graph Theory", by Bollobas, all of which make for graduate-level reading. And to think that some mathematics departments still show little if any desire to support fellow mathematicians who study graph theory! Reading any of these books hopefully might alter some of those entrenched attitudes.

This is a very nice book, which gives an introduction to some active areas of current research, but it does not really have too much depth (even in the references), so if you are doing research in this or related subjects, I would recommendSpectra of Graphs, 87: Theory and Application (Pure and Applied Mathematics (Academic Pr)) (yes, it is out of print, and yes, it costs a mint, but your university library probably has it). Godsil's book (referered to in a previous review) is much more algebraic and much less pleasant to read than Biggs.