But if you are really interested in these matters from a theoretical physics perspective, you should by all means read the book by Nakahara - "Geometry, Topology and Physics"; there you can read a very thorough introduction (although sometimes concise) to most of the topics of differential geometry and topology of interests for physics: homology and homotopy groups, calculus on manifolds, Riemannian geometry, complex geometry, fiber bundles, connections, characteristic classes, index theorems with applications. It is a wonderful book if you have enough background and use supplementary readings (for example in tensor, multilinear, algebra). Other similar book with the same spirit is Frankel's "The Geometry of Physics" which is longer dealing with most of the same contents more deeply; nevertheless I do not find it as useful and straight to the point as Nakahara's (and Frankel's notation isseems to me not the most orthodox standard compared to other books I have used on the subject). Similarly, I recommend the new book by Eschrig - "Topology and Geometry for Physics" which again deals with the same content as Nakahara's but with a less mathematical exposition (definition, theorem, proof...) since it is written to be read as lectures or a physics text. However, it is very detailed and instructive anyway, uses many figures and develops the same amount of detail or more at some points. This kind of books develop the necessary topological background all along as needed so if you have enough background on vector analysis/multivariable calculus you can approach these books directly to learn about manifolds.
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Javier Álvarez
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