Ravi Vakil – författare

An accessible, motivated introduction to one of the most dynamic areas of mathematicsDecades ago, Mumford wrote that algebraic geometry “seems to have acquired the reputation of being esoteric, exclusive, and very abstract, with adherents who are secretly plotting to take over all the rest of mathematics.” The revolution has now fully come to pass and has fundamentally changed how we think about many fields of mathematics. This book provides a thorough foundation in the powerful ideas that now shape the landscape, with an informal yet rigorous exposition that builds intuition for understanding the formidable machinery. It begins with a discussion of categorical thinking and sheaves and then develops the notion of schemes and varieties as examples of “geometric spaces” before discussing their specific aspects. The book goes on to cover topics such as dimension and smoothness, vector bundles and their natural generalizations, and important cohomological tools and their applications. Important optional topics are included in starred sections.Provides a comprehensive introduction certain to become the standard on the subjectFeatures a wealth of exercises that enable students to learn by doingRequires few prerequisites, developing the tools students need to succeed, from category theory and sheaf theory to commutative and homological algebraUses an example-driven approach that builds mathematical intuitionIs a self-contained textbook for graduate students and an essential reference for researchers

An accessible, motivated introduction to one of the most dynamic areas of mathematicsDecades ago, Mumford wrote that algebraic geometry “seems to have acquired the reputation of being esoteric, exclusive, and very abstract, with adherents who are secretly plotting to take over all the rest of mathematics.” The revolution has now fully come to pass and has fundamentally changed how we think about many fields of mathematics. This book provides a thorough foundation in the powerful ideas that now shape the landscape, with an informal yet rigorous exposition that builds intuition for understanding the formidable machinery. It begins with a discussion of categorical thinking and sheaves and then develops the notion of schemes and varieties as examples of “geometric spaces” before discussing their specific aspects. The book goes on to cover topics such as dimension and smoothness, vector bundles and their natural generalizations, and important cohomological tools and their applications. Important optional topics are included in starred sections.Provides a comprehensive introduction certain to become the standard on the subjectFeatures a wealth of exercises that enable students to learn by doingRequires few prerequisites, developing the tools students need to succeed, from category theory and sheaf theory to commutative and homological algebraUses an example-driven approach that builds mathematical intuitionIs a self-contained textbook for graduate students and an essential reference for researchers

This volume resulted from the conference A Celebration of Algebraic Geometry, which was held at Harvard University from August 25-28, 2011, in honour of Joe Harris' 60th birthday. Harris is famous around the world for his lively textbooks and enthusiastic teaching, as well as for his seminal research contributions. The articles are written in this spirit: clear, original, engaging, enlivened by examples, and accessible to young mathematicians. The articles in this volume focus on the moduli space of curves and more general varieties, commutative algebra, invariant theory, enumerative geometry both classical and modern, rationally connected and Fano varieties, Hodge theory and abelian varieties, and Calabi-Yau and hyperkahler manifolds. Taken together, they present a comprehensive view of the long frontier of current knowledge in algebraic geometry.