# What out-of-print books would you like to see re-printed?

It's excellent news that the LMS are to re-publish Cassels & Fröhlich. There are many other excellent mathematics books which are just about impossible (or at least very expensive) to get hold of, though this problem seems to be getting a bit better with some texts being printed on demand.

Which book(s) would you most like to see re-published?

A couple of comments:

Perhaps nobody under 30 actually reads real books made from trees any more, but personally I find it more convenient to refer to a paper copy, to the extent that I will happily buy a copy of something which is available free on-line (like SGA 1 and 2, or Milne's Arithmetic Duality Theorems).

And of course there can be legal issues with re-publishing works - EGA & SGA seem to be a case in point at the moment.

Here are two to start off with:

• Manin, Cubic forms
• Grothendieck et al., Dix exposés sur la cohomologie des schémas

(not including Cassels & Fröhlich because I picked up a copy on Amazon a couple of years ago :-) )

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Is this a questionaire by booksellers. – Sunni Mar 15 '10 at 14:50
If there are any reading, maybe they will take note... – Martin Bright Mar 15 '10 at 14:59
Reprints in Theory and Applications of Categories (tac.mta.ca/tac/reprints) makes it its business to reprint out-of-print books in category theory. At least five books, plus a bunch of classic but hard-to-get-hold-of papers, have appeared so far. If you have suggestions, contact me or another editor. – Tom Leinster Mar 15 '10 at 15:26
Néron models is in this year's Springer Yellow Sale? – Wanderer Mar 15 '10 at 17:25
I was going to say Grunbaum & Shephard, Tilings and Patterns, but it turns out it's being re-issued---in paperback, no less---later this year. I love dover books. – Leah Wrenn Berman Mar 15 '10 at 20:10

## 32 Answers

The following link may be relevant:

http://outofprintmath.blogspot.com/ - a blog devoted to trying to see which math books are in most dire need of reprinting.

Also

http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/timothy-chow-out-of-print-math-books/ For some backround info about this site.

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Methods of representation theory (Vol 1+2) by Curtis and Reiner. It's a shame that this is out of print!

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It's really a shame! And obviously there is a high demand for them. Look at amazon or ebay. The books are sold for more than 300$. Really insane. – Tilemachos Vassias Apr 4 '10 at 16:45 Both volumes are available at the Gigapedia – Jose Brox Jul 6 '10 at 12:56 After a quick pop over to my Amazon wish list, the following 4 have been pretty unattainable to me for as long as I've been looking: Galois Cohomology of Algebraic Number Fields, by Haberland Class Field Theory, by Neukirch Arithmetic Geometry, by Cornell et al. Number Theory, by Borevich and Shafarevich (So if anyone has one they want to get rid of...) - As far as I can tell, the whole content of Neukirch's "Class Field Theory" is embedded in his big book "Algebraic Number Theory". – Robin Chapman Mar 15 '10 at 17:53 About a month and a half ago I noticed Amazon had Arithmetic Geometry available again...well, to ship in 1 to 2 months. It also claimed to be a revised second printing with a new index. I ordered it and got it after about 1 week and a half. It doesn't have an index, but it is Arithmetic Geometry...although some of the pages are printed strangely, i.e., the bottom margin is way too small. Still well worth$56 though. – Keenan Kidwell Feb 19 '12 at 15:22
Hi, the old Neukirch, Class Field Theory was republished by Alexander Schmidt: mathi.uni-heidelberg.de/~schmidt/Neukirch/index.html (German only, but an English version will appear soon) – Timo Keller Feb 19 '12 at 18:56

Not likely to be a popular choice on MO, but I wish I could get a copy of Banach-Mazur Distances and Finite-Dimensional Operator Ideals by Tomczak-Jaegermann.

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(1) "Algebraic groups and number theory" by Platonov and Rapinchuk

(2) "Spherical functions on a group of p-adic type" by Macdonald

(3) "Topological transformation groups" by Montgomery and Zippin

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I'm REAL excited about this question,but I don't have the time right now to think about it enough to post a list. I was actually going to compile one for Dover this summer-a long one. But I'll think about it and try and post a few at this thread.Here's a few to get started:

Elements of Homotopy Theory by George Whitehead:A classic by the master and it would be a fantastic resource for classical homotopy theory from a geometrical standpoint that can serve as a foundation for the modern,high tech treatment via model categories.Why it's out of print baffles me.

Analysis And Solution of Partial Differential Equations by Robert L.Street:There are so few good undergraduate textbooks on this subject and a nice inexpensive reissue of this book would go a long way towards assisting this situation.Wonderful discussion and lots of nice examples.

Notes on Differential Geometry by Noel J.Hicks: An absolute classic and it needs to be brought back for a new generation of graduate students-after being proofread carefully,of course.Graduate students learning differential geometry will wonder why people have been hiding it from them.

The Foundations of Geometry by K.Borsuk and Smilew:A lost classic on axiomatic treatment of the classical plane geometries from a modern standpoint.Another book that baffles me why it's out of print.

There-that'll get you guys started. I actually hope to post the full list at my blog this summer. I'll let you guys know when it's up for the world to see.

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Hans Rademacher "Topics in analytic number Theory"

Lester Ford "Differential Equations"

F. Hirzebruch "Topological Methods in Algebraic Geometry"

M. Greenberg "Lectures on Algebraic Topology"

M. Atiyah, I. MacDonald "Introduction to Commutative Algebra"

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Indeed, you can get it in paperback. – Charlie Frohman Mar 25 '10 at 10:26
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All them are available at the Gigapedia, the Dixmier ones even on french – Jose Brox Jul 6 '10 at 12:54

"Essays In Group Theory" edited by S.M. Gersten, which in particular contains Gromov's paper "Hyperbolic Groups".

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Mathematics Made Difficult, by Carl Linderholm. A great underground classic.

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It is available online at the Gigapedia – Jose Brox Jul 6 '10 at 12:41

I would very much like to see Cornell and Silverman's Arithmetic Geometry republished. May I ask for a reference regarding the republication of Cassels and Fröhlich? I hadn't heard about this, and it's also at the top of my list for out-of-print books that should be republished.

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I asked someone at Springer HD who told me she is surprised that this is not available anymore. She will pass the wish on to the guys in NY and is confident that it will be made available again as long as the authors don't mind. – Franz Lemmermeyer Mar 16 '10 at 14:18

Adeles and Algebraic Groups by A.Weil

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In the U.S. market, Amazon lists the hardcover Birkhauser edition at \$29.50 (with free shipping). Apparently Springer/Birkhauser haven't kept it in print. Decades ago I wrote a short review of the book for a specialized journal which I was confident Weil wouldn't read. – Jim Humphreys Mar 29 '10 at 21:04

I don't know much about the book, since it is out of print and i am young, but Stong's Notes on Cobordism Theory.

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Associative Algebras, by Richard S. Pierce. Check out the ridiculous Amazon page for this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0387906932/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1273632391&sr=8-1&condition=new

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It is available at the Gigapedia – Jose Brox Jul 6 '10 at 12:45

"Homotopic topology" by Fomenko and Fuks, the English version. I already mentioned it here.

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Kobayashi, "Differential geometry of complex vector bundles"

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I've heard and read good things about "Mathematics, Form and Function" by Saunders Mac Lane which is sadly out of print. Second hand copies are scarce and prohibitively expensive.

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It is available at the Gigapedia – Jose Brox Jul 6 '10 at 12:47
Thanks Jose. I obtained a copy a few weeks back. – Colin Pratt Jul 6 '10 at 16:05
1. Topology by James Dugundji
2. General Topology by Ryszard Engelking
3. Topology - Volumes I and II by Kazimierz Kuratowski
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'Etale Cohomology' by Gunter Tamme (translated by Manfred Kolster).

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"Topologie Algébrique et Théorie des Faisceaux," by Roger Godement. The classic reference on sheaf theory. The edition I'm reading right now (checked out from the library) is beginning to fall apart, and it's really making my eyes water.

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« Topologie algébrique et théorie des faisceaux » isn't out-of-print. (I thought it was reprinted with a different cover very recently but I can't find evidence of that online...) I regularly see it in the shelves of bookstores (well, obviously, the probability is greater in Paris or Lyon than in Chicago) and you can order it at amazon.fr. – Maxime Bourrigan Sep 16 '10 at 23:48
Well, I was not hallucinating: Godement's book has been reprinted in 2006 according to eyrolles.com/Sciences/Livre/… Eyrolles.com even seems to accept to ship to the US (through Fedex) and your dream is therefore only 50 euros away... – Maxime Bourrigan Sep 17 '10 at 0:10

Murre's "Lectures on an introduction to Grothendieck's theory of the fundamental group".

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The whole Academic Press series on pure and applied mathematics contains a number of gems, including Mordell's work on Diophantine equations and Fuchs' work on infinite abelian groups. Unfortunately, it is out of print and used editions are usually horribly expensive.

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1. Furstenberg's Recurrence in Ergodic Theory and Combinatorial Number Theory

2. Dubins and Savage's How to Gamble If You Must: Inequalities for Stochastic Processes

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"The Geometry of Moduli Spaces of Sheaves" by Huybrechts and Lehn. Thankfully, it seems that an updated edition is in the works.

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Let's hope that they keep the hilarious typo on the spine (!): "The Geometry of Moduli Spaces of Shaves". Serves also as a warning against trusting spellcheck. – Dan Petersen Mar 15 '10 at 19:14

"The Floer Memorial Volume."

For anyone interested in instanton Floer homology, this book contains key articles by Floer, Donaldson, Braams, and others which aren't available anywhere else, the internet included (and which are still the sole references for certain proofs and ideas). My research has been held up for days, just due to this book being checked out.

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For a long time, I wished the Hungarian translation of Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming volumes 1-3 would be reprinted. I got lucky and I now have a used copy, but I guess it might still help others.

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Manifolds of differential mapping: P.W. Michor. should be printed with latex and graphics...

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Perhaps we should be asking why excellent books are out of print. By what mechanisms can they be brought back to life? Can we learn from any successful campaigns?

For me: Lectures on the theory of functions of a complex variable Vols I & II published in the 1960's by Noordhoff. A beautiful book authored by Sansone & Gerretsen.

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H.R. Margolis, Spectra and the Steenrod Algebra.

This book was a big influence on my advisor, and I've been lucky enough to borrow and read his copy. It's basically impossible to find nowadays but is still an amazing treatment of this subject.

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Would also like to suggest to the list "Local Class Field Theory" by Iwasawa.

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