This book covers topology and geometry beginning with an accessible account of the extraordinary and rather mysterious impact of mathematical physics, especially gauge theory, on the study of the geometry and topology of manifolds. Much of the mathematics developed in the book to study the classical field theories of physics (de Rham cohomology, Chern classes, Semi-Riemannian manifolds, Cech cohomology, spinors etc.) is standard, but the treatment always keeps one eye on the physics and unhesitatingly sacrifices generality to clarity. The author brings the reader up to the level needed to conclude with a brief discussion of the Seiberg-Witten invariants. Although this volume can be read independently Naber carries on the program initiated in his earlier volume, Topology, Geometry and Gauge Fields: Foundations, Springer, 1997, and writes in much the same spirit with precisely the same philosophical motivation. A large number of exercises are included to encourage active participation on the part of the reader. This work will be of great interest to researchers and graduate students in the field of mathematical physics.
