No label defined (Q4437801)

The author defines a \textit{coarse structure} on a set \(X\) to be a collection of subsets of \(X\times X\) which contains the diagonal and is closed under taking subsets, inverses, products and finite unions. A set equipped with a course structures is called a \textit{coarse} space. An example of a coarse structure associated to a metric space \(X\) is the collection of all subsets \(E \subset X\times X\) for which the projection maps \(\pi_1,\pi_2:E\to X\) are close. For the purpose of this review, the following informal definition is more useful: coarse geometry is the study of spaces (e.g. metric spaces) from a large scale point of view. This book is divided into three parts. Part 1 (chapter 1 to 5) deals with the general theory of coarse structures, with a particular chapter on metric spaces. In particular, the author treats the subjects of growth, amenability and coarse cohomology. Part 2 of the book (chapters 6 to 8) deals with coarse negative curvature, limits of metric spaces and rigidity. In fact, Mostow's rigidity theorem and Gromov's large scale negative curvature are the two main motivations for the study of large scale geometry. Part 3 (chapters 9 to 11) contains recent results on asymptotic dimension and uniform embeddings into Hilbert spaces. The author establishes relations with property T and \(C^*-\)algebras. The general perspective on coarse structures that is presented in this book was first set out in the paper [K-Theory 11, 209--239 (1997; Zbl 0879.19003)] by \textit{N. Higson, E. K. Pedersen} and the author. The subject matter and the treatment are very very interesting.