Hempel (Rice U.) considered revising his introduction to the topological structure of three-dimensional manifolds, published in 1976 by Princeton University Press, but saw no obvious place to stop editing, and so did not begin. Corrections and some updates are available on a website. Though much has transpired in the field since then, he says the basic tools and subject remain pretty much the same. He assumes readers are familiar with the basic elements of algebraic topology. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)