Customer Reviews

Topology: An Introduction to the Point-Set and Algebraic Areas (Dover Books on Mathematics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is the author's ability to properly convey the ideas of the given subject that should be addressed not who the author chose to review it. Having read books by several of the "well-known' authors in the area of Topology, i.e. Munkres, Kelley and Bourbaki, I found this book quite informative, lively and lives up to the author's assertion that there is a definte need for books that are less dense(terse, pedantic) and which get right to the point, illustrating and presenting the material essential for an introductory exposure to Topology. The exercises are well chosen and extend the material presented in the text which is a complementary bonus since there appears an unfortunate trend in some texts to have seemingly irrelevant exercises at the end of each section. Also I found this to be good book for independent study and strongly recommend it to all highly motivated undergraduates.

I used this book as a supplement for math590(ind.study) on simplicial homology groups. This book is good because its cheap, concise, and rigorous (and characterizes all compact surfaces as well as proves the simplicial approximation theorem). There are hints and answers to the exercises which are numerous and vary in difficulty. I think this is the best all around book Dover offers on topology; Maunders is completely in a league of its own.

I find this to be an excellent treatment of concepts with have been made quite difficult in other texts.

As the father of the author, I recommend this book heartily to topologists the world over. I originally purchased my copy at Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford, England. --Irving Kah

While a good sense of humor is as necessary to reading (and hopefully to learning) topology as is mental acuity, self-serving Reviews by Authors are offensive and similar "contributions" by Authors' relatives (if that is in fact what we have here)are even more so given the price of textbooks these days. Why doesn't the good professor submit the results of a survey of his students (anonymous and conducted by someone other than himself, we would hope)who have used this book as a text? Better yet, would the professor submit an open letter to a peer-reviewed journal soliciting such evaluations from colleagues at other schools which haveused his text?