• 'An excellent framework for various courses in Surgery Theory… very readable… I read this fine and carefully written book with great pleasure, and highly recommend it for everyone who wants to undertake a deeper study of Surgery Theory and its Applications.' -Alberto Cavicchioli (Modena), Zentralblatt MATH

This book is an introduction to surgery theory: the standard classification method for high-dimensional manifolds. It is aimed at graduate students, who have already had a basic topology course, and would now like to understand the topology of high-dimensional manifolds. This text contains entry-level accounts of the various prerequisites of both algebra and topology, including basic homotopy and homology, Poincare duality, bundles, cobordism, embeddings, immersions, Whitehead torsion, Poincare complexes, spherical fibrations and quadratic forms and formations. While concentrating on the basic mechanics of surgery, this book includes many worked examples, useful drawings for illustration of the algebra and references for further reading.