3-Manifolds

by John Hempel

Hempel (Rice U.) considered revising his introduction to the topological structure of three-dimensional manifolds, published in 1976 by Princeton University Press, but saw no obvious place to stop editing, and so did not begin. Corrections and some updates are available on a website. Though much has transpired in the field since then, he says the basic tools and subject remain pretty much the same. He assumes readers are familiar with the basic elements of algebraic topology. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

195 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kenan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this for a graduate advanced exam. It was very rough going. Hempel's personality, both in this book and his teaching, largely avoids diagrams and other pictures, apparently because he's able to picture such things easily in his head as a renowned expert in the field. For those who aren't at that level, the material in this book is very important for low-dimensional topology research, but I hope other more readable introductions exist.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic to low-dimensional topologists.