Peter Nickolas is an Associate Professor in the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales. He has nearly 40 years of experience in teaching and research. A large part of his research has been in the theory of topological groups, but he has also made significant contributions to the emerging theory of free paratopological groups, to the study of the geometry of metric spaces and to applications of mathematics and formal logic in computer science.
'Not only does it bring the subject in a most suitable and systematic way that, I am sure, mathematics students are used to and probably appreciate most. It is also following some good rules of didactics taking the students by the hand and bringing them to a higher level of understanding, ensuring that at least the bulk of the students does not declutch. A lot of effort is put into taking the rungs of the ladder at just the right pace, not boringly slow or not frighteningly fast, and always placing a chapter in the proper context: what has been achieved, and where do we want to go?' Adhemar Bultheel, European Mathematical Society 'What is really nice with this book is its style, which leads the student step by step through different ideas, theorems and proofs. It explains the reason behind new concepts, discusses their shortcomings, and uses these as a motivation to introduce other concepts.' Salim Salem, MAA Reviews