Riemann, topology and physics. Transl. from the Russian by Roger Cooke, James King and Victoria King. With a foreword by Freeman J. Dyson (Q2468817)

M. Monastyrsky's widely popular essays on (a) the life and mathematical heritage of Bernhard Riemann and (b) some topological themes in contemporary physics were first published in Russian between 1976 and 1979. Although these two booklets were written separately, with each of them being complete in itself, they complemented each other very beautifully and effectively, mainly through B. Riemann's once pioneering new conceptual ideas in geometry, analysis (situs), and space-time physics. The first English edition of these two outstanding examples of generally intelligible writing in mathematics and theoretical physics appeared 1987 in one volume (Zbl 0626.01033). The second English edition, published in 1999, was a considerably expanded version of the originals, in particular with a view toward a number of more recent, utmost crucial advances in topology, complex geometry, and mathematical physics achieved in the 1980s and 1990s. The current book is the unaltered reprint of just that second English edition, which indeed has become a modern classic of its genre over the past two decades. As for the precise contents, we may therefore refer to D. Laugwitz's expert and exhaustive review (Zbl 0932.01066) of the second English edition of M. Monastyrsky's fascinating panorama of Riemannian mathematics, its contemporary aspects, and its ubiquitous significance in modern physics which certainly will maintain its role as a highly valuable source of both information and inspiration in future decades.