Derived from the author's course on the subject, Elements of Differential Topology explores the vast and elegant theories in topology developed by Morse, Thom, Smale, Whitney, Milnor, and others. It begins with differential and integral calculus, leads you through the intricacies of manifold theory, and concludes with discussions on algebraic topology, algebraic/differential geometry, and Lie groups. The first two chapters review differential and integral calculus of several variables and present fundamental results that are used throughout the text. The next few chapters focus on smooth manifolds as submanifolds in a Euclidean space, the algebraic machinery of differential forms necessary for studying integration on manifolds, abstract smooth manifolds, and the foundation for homotopical aspects of manifolds. The author then discusses a central theme of the book: intersection theory. He also covers Morse functions and the basics of Lie groups, which provide a rich source of examples of manifolds. Exercises are included in each chapter, with solutions and hints at the back of the book. A sound introduction to the theory of smooth manifolds, this text ensures a smooth transition from calculus-level mathematical maturity to the level required to understand abstract manifolds and topology. It contains all standard results, such as Whitney embedding theorems and the Borsuk-Ulam theorem, as well as several equivalent definitions of the Euler characteristic.

Building on rudimentary knowledge of real analysis, point-set topology, and basic algebra, Basic Algebraic Topology provides plenty of material for a two-semester course in algebraic topology. The book first introduces the necessary fundamental concepts, such as relative homotopy, fibrations and cofibrations, category theory, cell complexes, and simplicial complexes. It then focuses on the fundamental group, covering spaces and elementary aspects of homology theory. It presents the central objects of study in topology visualization: manifolds. After developing the homology theory with coefficients, homology of the products, and cohomology algebra, the book returns to the study of manifolds, discussing Poincare duality and the De Rham theorem. A brief introduction to cohomology of sheaves and Cech cohomology follows. The core of the text covers higher homotopy groups, Hurewicz's isomorphism theorem, obstruction theory, Eilenberg-Mac Lane spaces, and Moore-Postnikov decomposition. The author then relates the homology of the total space of a fibration to that of the base and the fiber, with applications to characteristic classes and vector bundles. The book concludes with the basic theory of spectral sequences and several applications, including Serre's seminal work on higher homotopy groups. Thoroughly classroom-tested, this self-contained text takes students all the way to becoming algebraic topologists. Historical remarks throughout the text make the subject more meaningful to students. Also suitable for researchers, the book provides references for further reading, presents full proofs of all results, and includes numerous exercises of varying levels.