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Topology: A Geometric Approach (Oxford Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 9) | 
 enlarge | Author: Terry Lawson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $113.03
Buy New: $29.63
You Save: $83.40 (74%)
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1652325
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 408
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0198515979
Dewey Decimal Number: 514
EAN: 9780198515975
Publication Date: June 19, 2003
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Product Description
This introduction to topology emphasizes a geometric approach with a focus on surfaces. A primary feature is a large collection of exercises and projects, which fosters a teaching style making the student an active class participant. A wide range of material at different levels supports flexible use of the book for a variety of students. Part I is appropriate for a one semester or two quarter course, and Part II, which id problem based allows the book to be used for a year long course which supports a variety of syllabuses.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Terrific Book for a Concrete Understanding August 26, 2003
Jason Calmes (New Orleans, Louisiana USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Dr. Lawson's book is great for the reader who wants a concrete understanding of topology to complement an abstract appreciation for its beauty. Many motivating and explanatory examples in the text help to flesh out the general results of the field. The book is divided as to be accessible not only to undergraduates and newcomers to topology, but also to graduates and those looking for higher level results. There are exercises guiding the reader though difficult results, so it is excellent for independent study or a source for projects.
 Interesting in concept; truly abysmal in execution November 13, 2006
Native Oregonian
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I agree with the reviewer before me: this book sets the bar for poor mathematical exposition. Its passages are little more than shoddily constructed rambles.
The tragedy is that Lawson does have some interesting ideas about how to approach topology. His geometric emphasis can indeed provide useful intuition, while "projects" contained in the supplementary exercises are engaging and provide useful experience.
But the good pedagogical concepts underlying his work do not excuse the terrible writing that fills it. In fact, no word better characterizes Lawson's Topology than "lazy". As the previous reviewer mentioned, Lawson has an almost pathological habit: he writes pages of non-rigorous and poorly justified arguments, then literally "leaves the details as an exercise." These "details" are frequently tedious computations unrelated to topology. Meanwhile, the "proofs" often aren't proofs at all; they nebulously cite previous arguments ("we can adapt the argument of section X.XX") in a way that mires the reader in page-turns and confusion. Such garbage has made my classmates -- some of the best students at a top-10 university known for its undergraduate math -- uniformly revile this text.
I'll make my advice simple: if you are a self-learner, do not buy this book. If you are a professor, do not use it. If you are Terry Lawson, halt the publication of this mess until you can make it useful.
Poorly written and hard to follow November 13, 2006
pure math major (Durham, NC United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book has been valuable to me as a model of what not to do when writing mathematical exposition. The author sometimes states theorems after giving their proofs, rather than before. The book is riddled with statements of the form "we see by the argument used to prove theorem X"--I would even say these are more common than statements of the form "we see by theorem X". As a result, students accustomed to look up theorems until they are learned through use must muddle through several earlier arguments, previously understood but not internalized, on the way to understanding practically any argument in the book. Similarly, this makes the book very bad as a reference. The definitions are convoluted, defining several terms at once, with the later ones relying on the earlier ones, which makes it difficult because there are no examples to help the reader understand the earlier terms before they are used to define something else. The exercises of the form "fill in the details of the above argument" might be helpful to understanding, albeit uninteresting, if they did not sometimes refer to a page of typed handwavy arguments (which requires a great deal more space when expanded). The condensed arguments are often difficult to follow. The book also contains confusing typographic errors, although that is perhaps to be expected of a first printing for almost any text.
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