Homological Algebra has grown in the nearly three decades since the rst e- tion of this book appeared in 1979. Two books discussing more recent results are Weibel, An Introduction to Homological Algebra, 1994, and Gelfand- Manin, Methods of Homological Algebra, 2003. In their Foreword, Gelfand and Manin divide the history of Homological Algebra into three periods: the rst period ended in the early 1960s, culminating in applications of Ho- logical Algebra to regular local rings. The second period, greatly in uenced by the work of A. Grothendieck and J. -P. Serre, continued through the 1980s;...

There is a canard that every textbook of algebraic topology either ends with the definition of the Klein bottle or is a personal communication to J. H. C. Whitehead. Of course, this is false, as a glance at the books of Hilton and Wylie, Maunder, Munkres, and Schubert reveals. Still, the canard does reflect some truth. Too often one finds too much generality and too little attention to details. There are two types of obstacle for the student learning algebraic topology. The first is the formidable array of new techniques (e. g., most students know very little homological algebra); the second...

Anyone who has studied abstract algebra and linear algebra as an undergraduate can understand this book. The first six chapters provide material for a first course, while the rest of the book covers more advanced topics. This revised edition retains the clarity of presentation that was the hallmark of the previous editions.

From the reviews:

"Rotman has given us a very readable and valuable text, and has shown us many beautiful vistas along his chosen route." --MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS