<p>Rolfsen's beautiful book on knots and links can be read by anyone, from beginner to expert, who wants to learn about knot theory. Beginners find an inviting introduction to the elements of topology, emphasizing the tools needed for understanding knots, the fundamental group and van Kampen's theorem, for example, which are then applied to concrete problems, such as computing knot groups. For experts, Rolfsen explains advanced topics, such as the connections between knot theory and surgery and how they are useful to understanding three-manifolds. Besides providing a guide to understanding knot theory, the book offers 'practical' training. After reading it, you will be able to do many things: compute presentations of knot groups, Alexander polynomials, and other invariants; perform surgery on three-manifolds; and visualize knots and their complements.It is characterized by its hands-on approach and emphasis on a visual, geometric understanding. Rolfsen offers invaluable insight and strikes a perfect balance between giving technical details and offering informal explanations. The illustrations are superb, and a wealth of examples are included. Now back in print by the AMS, the book is still a standard reference in knot theory. It is written in a remarkable style that makes it useful for both beginners and researchers. Particularly noteworthy is the table of knots and links at the end. This volume is an excellent introduction to the topic and is suitable as a textbook for a course in knot theory or 3-manifolds. Other key books of interest on this topic available from the AMS are ""The Shoelace Book: A Mathematical Guide to the Best (and Worst) Ways to Lace your Shoes"" and ""The Knot Book"".</p>

Knots and Links (AMS Chelsea Publishing)

Science & Math

Dale Rolfsen

Mathematics

American Mathematical Society

In the fifteen years since the discovery that Artin's braid groups enjoy a left-invariant linear ordering, several quite different approaches have been used to understand this phenomenon. This book is an account of those approaches, which involve such varied objects and domains as combinatorial group theory, self-distributive algebra, finite combinatorics, automata, low-dimensional topology, mapping class groups, and hyperbolic geometry. The remarkable point is that all these approaches lead to the same ordering, making the latter rather canonical. We have attempted to make the ideas in this volume accessible and interesting to students and seasoned professionals alike. Although the text touches upon many different areas, we only assume that the reader has some basic background in group theory and topology, and we include detailed introductions wherever they may be needed, so as to make the book as self-contained as possible. The present volume follows the book, Why are braids orderable?, written by the same authors and published in 2002 by the Societe Mathematique de France. The current text contains a considerable amount of new material, including ideas that were unknown in 2002. In addition, much of the original text has been completely rewritten, with a view to making it more readable and up-to-date.

Ordering Braids (Mathematical Surveys and Monographs)

Patrick Dehornoy

Ivan Dynnikov

and Bert Wiest

<p>This book deals with the connections between topology and ordered groups. It begins with a self-contained introduction to orderable groups and from there explores the interactions between orderability and objects in low-dimensional topology, such as knot theory, braid groups, and 3-manifolds, as well as groups of homeomorphisms and other topological structures. The book also addresses recent applications of orderability in the studies of codimension-one foliations and Heegaard-Floer homology. The use of topological methods in proving algebraic results is another feature of the book. The book was written to serve both as a textbook for graduate students, containing many exercises, and as a reference for researchers in topology, algebra, and dynamical systems. A basic background in group theory and topology is the only prerequisite for the reader.</p>

Ordered Groups and Topology (Graduate Studies in Mathematics) (Graduate Studies in Mathematics, 176)

Adam Clay

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Books by Dale Rolfsen