This manuscript is a detailed presentation of the ten lectures given by the author at the NSF Regional Conference on Three-Manifold Topology, held October 1977, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The purpose of the conference was to present the current state of affairs in three-manifold topology and to integrate the classical results with the many recent advances and new directions.

This book grew out of a graduate course on 3-manifolds and is intended for a mathematically experienced audience that is new to low-dimensional topology. The exposition begins with the definition of a manifold, explores possible additional structures on manifolds, discusses the classification of surfaces, introduces key foundational results for 3-manifolds, and provides an overview of knot theory. It then continues with more specialized topics by briefly considering triangulations of 3-manifolds, normal surface theory, and Heegaard splittings. The book finishes with a discussion of topics relevant to viewing 3-manifolds via the curve complex. With about 250 figures and more than 200 exercises, this book can serve as an excellent overview and starting point for the study of 3-manifolds.

This book uses elementary versions of modern methods found in sophisticated mathematics to discuss portions of "advanced calculus" in which the subtlety of the concepts and methods makes rigor difficult to attain at an elementary level.

William Thurston's work has had a profound influence on mathematics. He connected whole mathematical subjects in entirely new ways and changed the way mathematicians think about geometry, topology, foliations, group theory, dynamical systems, and the way these areas interact. His emphasis on understanding and imagination in mathematical learning and thinking are integral elements of his distinctive legacy. This four-part collection brings together in one place Thurston's major writings, many of which are appearing in publication for the first time. Volumes I–III contain commentaries by the Editors. Volume IV includes a preface by Steven P. Kerckhoff. Volume IV contains Thurston's highly influential, though previously unpublished, 1977–78 Princeton Course Notes on the Geometry and Topology of 3-manifolds. It is an indispensable part of the Thurston collection but can also be used on its own as a textbook or for self-study.

Every mathematician should be acquainted with the basic facts about the geometry of surfaces, of two-dimensional manifolds. The theory of three-dimensional manifolds is much more difficult and still only partly understood, although there is ample evidence that the theory of three-dimensional manifolds is one of the most beautiful in the whole of mathematics. This excellent introductory work makes this mathematical wonderland remained rather inaccessible to non-specialists. The author is both a leading researcher, with a formidable geometric intuition, and a gifted expositor. His vivid descriptions of what it might be like to live in this or that three-dimensional manifold bring the subject to life. Like Poincaré, he appeals to intuition, but his enthusiasm is infectious and should make many converts for this kind of mathematics. There are good pictures, plenty of exercises and problems, and the reader will find a selection of topics which are not found in the standard repertoire. This book contains a great deal of interesting mathematics.

This unique reference, aimed at research topologists, gives an exposition of the 'pseudo-Anosov' theory of foliations of 3-manifolds. This theory generalizes Thurston's theory of surface automorphisms and reveals an intimate connection between dynamics, geometry and topology in 3 dimensions. Significant themes returned to throughout the text include the importance of geometry, especially the hyperbolic geometry of surfaces, the importance of monotonicity, especially in1-dimensional and co-dimensional dynamics, and combinatorial approximation, using finite combinatorical objects such as train-tracks, branched surfaces and hierarchies to carry more complicated continuous objects.