Nonlinear analysis is a remarkable mixture of topology, analysis and applied mathematics. Mathematicians have good reason to become acquainted with this important, rapidly developing subject. But it is a BIG subject. You can feel it: just hold Eberhard Zeidler''s Nonlinear Functional Analysis and Its Applications I: Fixed Point Theorems [Z} in your hand. It''s heavy, as a 900 page book must be. Yet this is no encyclopedia; the preface accurately describes the " ... very careful selection of material ... " it contains. And what you are holding is only Part I of a five-part work. So how do you get started learning nonlinear analysis? Zeidler''s book has a first page, and some people are quite comfortable beginning right there. For an alternative, the bibliography in [Z], which is 42 pages long, contains exposition as well as research results: monographs that explain portions of the subject to a variety of audiences. In particular, [D} covers much of the material of Zeidler''s book. What makes this book different? The answer is in three parts: this book is (i) topological (ii) goal-oriented and (iii) a model of its subject.
