facts. An elementary acquaintance with topology, algebra, and analysis (in- cluding the notion of a manifold) is sufficient as far as the understanding of this book is concerned. All the necessary properties and theorems have been gathered in the preliminary chapters -either with proofs or with references to standard and elementary textbooks. The first chapter of the book is devoted to a study of the rings Oa of holomorphic functions. The notions of analytic sets and germs are introduced in the second chapter. Its aim is to present elementary properties of these objects, also in connection...