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While trying to read the book "Three-Dimensional Geometry and Topology" by William P. Thurston and Silvio Levy I just realized that my knowledge of Topology is still very scarce...Is there any other book (or reference) that studies the geometry in two and three dimensions but that is a little easier to read...Or perhaps an introdutory reference to study before attempting to read this book?

Zev Chonoles
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PML
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  • The tag wiki for reference-request says "Please do not use this as the only tag for a question." – Zev Chonoles Feb 21 '13 at 22:11
  • Ups, sorry. Thank you for the edit. – PML Feb 21 '13 at 22:12
  • I think it's just a dense book. I've heard stories of a reading group at Berkeley that never got past page 4 of the notes this book is based on (the one with the two tetrahedra...), but managed to publish 5 papers based on just that material. – gmoss Feb 22 '13 at 02:45
  • Yes the book is very good but as you said: it's really dense. The main problem is not really the material that is presented (at least in the first chapter which I can't get past) but the problems... Some (most) of them I can't even understand the question... – PML Feb 22 '13 at 09:59
  • This book grew out of Thurston's lecture notes (available online for free), where he made it clear his intent was to develop intuition, often usng ideas and concepts not yet defined or clarified. He also mentions that the exercises are usually too difficult for someone seeing these things for the first time, and that it would be a good idea to come back to them after reading further. In effect, the idea of the exercises is to challenge the reader to form incomplete pictures, which are then filled in later on. –  Feb 22 '13 at 22:51
  • @SteveD Indeed he states in the preamble of the book what you said, I was, though, feeling quite disappointed by not being able to solve any exercise completely... I'll try to move on and study a little further. Thank you. – PML Feb 25 '13 at 10:14
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    My suggestion would be to move on, and keep coming back to those ones you cannot do. If the curiosity eventually overwhelms you, ask a specific question here, and no doubt many people will help you. –  Feb 25 '13 at 16:14

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