First published in 1964, this book served as a text on differential geometry to several generations of graduate students all over the world.

The first half of the book (Chapters 1–6) presents basics of the theory of manifolds, vector bundles, differential forms, and Lie groups, with a special emphasis on the theory of linear and affine connections. The second half of the book (Chapters 7–11) is devoted to Riemannian geometry. Following the definition and main properties of Riemannian manifolds, the authors discuss the theory of geodesics, complete Riemannian manifolds, and curvature. Next, they introduce the theory of immersion of manifolds and the second fundamental form. The concluding Chapter 11 contains more complicated results on which much of the research in Riemannian geometry is based: the Morse index theorem, Synge's theorem on closed geodesics, Rauch's comparision theorem, and Bishop's volume-comparision theorem.

Clear, concise writing as well as many exercises and examples make this classic an excellent text for a first-year graduate course on differential geometry.

Readership

Graduate students and research mathematicians interested in geometry and topology.