Over the last number of years powerful new methods in analysis and topology have led to the development of the modern global theory of symplectic topology, including several striking and important results. The first edition of Introduction to Symplectic Topology was published in 1995. The book was the first comprehensive introduction to the subject and became a key text in the area. A significantly revised second edition was published in 1998 introducing new sections and updates on the fast-developing area. This new third edition includes updates and new material to bring the book right up-to-date.

Over the last number of years powerful new methods in analysis and topology have led to the development of the modern global theory of symplectic topology, including several striking and important results. The first edition of Introduction to Symplectic Topology was published in 1995. The book was the first comprehensive introduction to the subject and became a key text in the area. A significantly revised second edition was published in 1998 introducing new sections and updates on the fast-developing area. This new third edition includes updates and new material to bring the book right up-to-date.

This volume is based on lectures given at a workshop and conference on symplectic geometry at the University of Warwick in August 1990. The area of symplectic geometry has developed rapidly in the past ten years with major new discoveries that were motivated by and have provided links with many other subjects such as dynamical systems, topology, gauge theory, mathematical physics and singularity theory. The conference brought together a number of leading experts in these areas of mathematics. The contributions to this volume reflect the richness of the subject and include expository papers as well as original research. They will be an essential source for all research mathematicians in symplectic geometry.

The theory of $J$-holomorphic curves has been of great importance since its introduction by Gromov in 1985. In mathematics, its applications include many key results in symplectic topology. It was also one of the main inspirations for the creation of Floer homology. In mathematical physics, it provides a natural context in which to define Gromov-Witten invariants and quantum cohomology, two important ingredients of the mirror symmetry conjecture. The main goal of this book is to establish the fundamental theorems of the subject in full and rigourous detail. In particular, the book contains complete proofs of Gromov's compactness theorem for spheres, of the gluing theorem for spheres, and of the associatively of quantum multiplication in the semipositive case. The book can also serve as an introduction to current work in symplectic topology: there are two long chapters on applications, one concentrating on classical results in symplectic topology and the other concerned with quantum cohomology. The last chapter sketches some recent developments in Floer theory. The five appendices of the book provide necessary background related to the classical theory of linear elliptic operators, Fredholm theory, Sobolev spaces, as well as a discussion of the moduli space of genus zero stable curves and a proof of the positivity of intersections of $J$-holomorphic curves in four-dimensional manifolds. The second edition clarifies various arguments, corrects several mistakes in the first edition, includes some additional results in Chapter 10 and Appendices C and D, and updates the references to recent developments.