How Surfaces Intersect in Space: An Introduction to Topology (2nd Edition) (K & E Series on Knots and Everything)

This is a book of pictures that illustrate standard examples in low dimensional topology. The text starts at the most basic level (the intersection of coordinate planes) and gives hands-on constructions of the most beautiful examples in topology: the projective plane; Poincare's example of a homology sphere; lens spaces; knotted surfaces; 2-sphere eversions; and higher dimensional manifolds. The text carefully explains the importance of the examples and the techniques without being bogged down in a morass of technicalities. The book is a guide book to a wide variety of topics. It will be of value to undergraduates who want to learn geometric topology and to graduate students who want examples with which they can make computations and who need an elementary description of topological spaces. Finally, the book should be interesting to other scientists and mathematicians who want to learn some examples of topological spaces.