Students of topology rightly complain that much of the basic material in
the subject cannot easily be found in the literature, at least not in a
convenient form. In this book I have tried to take a fresh look at some
of this basic material and to organize it in a coherent fashion. The
text is as self-contained as I could reasonably make it and should be
quite accessible to anyone who has an elementary knowledge of point-set
topology and group theory. This book is based on a course of 16 graduate
lectures given at Oxford and elsewhere from time to time. In a course of
that length one cannot discuss too many topics without being unduly
superficial. However, this was never intended as a treatise on the
subject but rather as a short introductory course which will, I hope,
prove useful to specialists and non-specialists alike. The introduction
contains a description of the contents. No algebraic or differen- tial
topology is involved, although I have borne in mind the needs of
students of those branches of the subject. Exercises for the reader are
scattered throughout the text, while suggestions for further reading are
contained in the lists of references at the end of each chapter. In most
cases these lists include the main sources I have drawn on, but this is
not the type of book where it is practicable to give a reference for
everything.
