Book Description | Topology is a natural, geometric, and intuitively appealing branch of mathematics that can be understood and appreciated by students as they begin their study of advanced mathematical topics. Designed for a one-semester introduction to topology at the undergraduate and beginning graduate levels, this text is accessible to students familiar with multivariable calculus. Rigorous but not abstract, the treatment emphasizes the geometric nature of the subject and the applications of topological ideas to geometry and mathematical analysis. Customary topics of point-set topology include metric spaces, general topological spaces, continuity, topological equivalence, basis, subbasis, connectedness, compactness, separation properties, metrization, subspaces, product spaces, and quotient spaces. In addition, the text introduces geometric, differential, and algebraic topology. Each chapter includes historical notes to put important developments into their historical framework. Exercises of varying degrees of difficulty form an essential part of the text. |
Editorial Review | Say Foxfire! and we're there. A new volume in the classic series of Appalachian storytelling, outdoors tips, and collected wisdom, this paperback original expands the usual Foxfire stomping grounds of the north Georgia mountains to the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. --Garden & Gun Magazine "You get pulled in. . . . Light-hearted proof that some of the old idiosyncratic spirit [of Appalachia] remains. . . . To this day, I feel sure that if I found myself alone in the mountains with nothing but a hatchet, a dutch oven and a copy of The Foxfire Book, I'd have a pretty good chance to survive. . . . [Travels with Foxfire] is still about making things. . . . The vignettes . . . coalesce around an idea best put forth by Jane Taylor, a native of Gainesville, Ga., in the chapter titled 'How to Turn Junk Into Art.' 'I was very serious most of my life, ' she says. 'Very serious. I was brought up that way. You don't play. I was good at what I did, but I never really enjoyed it.' She found a way to live her own life by her own rules, eventually learning to weld, in love with 'gorgeous iron, broken, sad, beautiful.'" --Max Watman, The Wall Street Journal "A welcome rekindling of the Foxfire franchise of books on Southern folkways. Journalist Hudgins and former Foxfire student Phillips continue the fine tradition of publishing collections of oral history around Southern Appalachian cultural mores. . . . In keeping with Foxfire tradition, there's a little bit of everything in this collection. . . . A lively model of modern folklore and a must for fans of the original series." --Kirkus Reviews "Anyone with an interest in Americana, history, or nature will appreciate these poignant and enjoyable stories of shared knowledge and traditions." --Publishers Weekly "An engrossing shout-out to the distinct and varied culture of Southern Appalachia. . . . Phil Hudgins and Jessica Phillips attempts to characterize the area in a colorful collection of over 30 essays. . . . The authors traveled throughout Southern Appalachia pocketing tales. . . . They also spoke with medicine women, game wardens, folk singers and more." --Augusta Chronicle |