Although Riemann surfaces are a time-honoured field, this book is novel
in its broad perspective: the text systematically explores the
connection with other fields of mathematics. The book can serve as an
introduction to contemporary mathematics as a whole, as it develops
background material from algebraic topology, differential geometry, the
calculus of variations, elliptic PDE, and algebraic geometry. Compact
Riemann Surfaces is unique among textbooks on Riemann surfaces in its
inclusion of an introduction to Teichmüller theory. For this new
edition, the author has expanded and rewritten several sections to
include additional material and to improve the presentation.