The book deals with the localization approach to the index problem for elliptic operators. Localization ideas have been widely used for solving various specific index problems for a long time, but the fact that there is actually a fundamental localization principle underlying all these solutions has mostly passed unnoticed. The ignorance of this general principle has often necessitated using various artificial tricks and hindered the solution of new important problems in index theory. So far, the localization principle has been only scarcely covered in journal papers and not covered at all in...