Algebra in the Stone-Čech compactification. Theory and applications (Q658129): Difference between revisions

The first edition of this book appeared in 1998. Instead of the review in Zbl 0918.22001, I would recommend the preface to the first edition. Nowadays, this is a table book for researchers, and a paper in the subject without reference to this book almost surely just mediocre. The ND-tandem continues an active and productive work and remains the main authority in the \(\beta\)-algebra (= algebra in the Stone-Čech compactification). In the second edition, the authors try to enlighten maximally a huge amount of results obtained during the last fourteen years but do not destroy the structure of the book. Hard work indeed! A new theorem is inserted in the text with proof only if it has a predecessor in the first edition and does not need a long preparation. Everything else is dispersed in the historical notes. Some old results are supplied with more elegant proofs, for example, the Density Finite Sum Theorem in 20.3. The one-page preface to the second edition is a bit phlegmatic: some statistics (165 added references, 6 subsections, more than 50 new lemmas and theorems) and technical changes in the exposition. Thus, to understand what really intriguing things appeared since the first edition and to recognize new trends or points of growth, the reader has no way but to routinely study the whole remainder. As a quick alternative introduction to the subject, I would recommend [``Ultrafilters, IP sets, dynamics, and combinatorial number theory'', Contemp. Math. 530, 23--47 (2010; Zbl 1237.05205)] by \textit{V. Bergelson}. For applications of \(\beta\)-algebras see also [\textit{S. Todorcevic}, Introduction to Ramsey space. Ann. Math. Stud. 174. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (2010; Zbl 1205.05001)]. No doubt, after the renovation the book confirms its status as the capital in \(\beta\)-algebras.