No Thesis Work - shame, I know

But, But, But...

You should check this shit out. It's essentially a mathematical history book - it chronicles the history of the foundational theorems of topology, and in a fairly readable way, too. I don't know terribly much about topology, but I have enough undergraduate math in my head to grasp the trickiest concepts he's touched on so far. It's not a very deep book; he skips a lot of theorems that would be too difficult or cumbersome to prove, and stumbles a bit in his initial exposition of topological concepts. He gets the point across though: this stuff is weird, it's taken hundreds of years to develop, and it's awesome. He makes no apologies for his lack of rigor, either. Mathematical rigor is very clearly not high on his priority list.

This book is a great introduction to the big ideas in topology for someone who is not particularly mathematically inclined. Also a very fun read for those of us who know a bit more math, but still haven't had the opportunity to delve deep into the subject. If you already know a good bit about topology, you'll probably get bored about halfway through the book when the historical anecdotes become increasingly scarce. In any case, it's a fun read, and well worth the nothing it cost me to have Serena snag it off the free bookshelf at her office.