This book was written to make learning introductory algebraic geometry as easy as possible. It is designed for the general first- and second-year graduate student, as well as for the nonspecialist; the only prerequisites are a one-year course in algebra and a little complex analysis. There are many examples and pictures in the book. One's sense of intuition is largely built up from exposure to concrete examples, and intuition in algebraic geometry is no exception. I have also tried to avoid too much generalization. If one under- stands the core of an idea in a concrete setting, later...