This book chronicles "Abscam" and its repercussions. Abscam was a FBI sting operation in which Abdul, a fictitious, wealthy Arab sheik sought to achieve several things: asylum in the U.S., investment opportunities in the U.S. and help in getting his own money out of his own country.

FBI agents posing as associates of Abdul approached politicians for "help" in achieving Abdul's goals. What follows is a tale of deceit, corruption and lies as politicians responded positively to Abdul's offers of big money. The FBI's sting operation brought out many crooks and resulted in bribery and conspiracy charges. However, Abscam also raised many questions as to the FBI's entrapment tactics, even resulting in one conviction being overturned.

While shocking and disturbing, the story is nevertheless at times amusing. The end result is a comprehensive review of one of the biggest scandal's in U.S. history.

This is the usual text for introductory Topology at UCLA, where I took the course. The authors (who teach at UCLA) have "if you haven't chewed through every syllable you are not learning" mentality. In short, the book is terse and demands a lot from the reader. Looking back, this was great preparation for graduate school and is probably the best philosophy for the serious undergrad. The book contains all of the information one needs for an introductory course, but absolutely no more. Not a single character is wasted on "extraneous" explanation. Be ready for battle when opening this one, but it's worth it.

I used this book to teach myself the basics of point-set topology and homotopy theory. What makes this book so great is that the author doesn't waste words in delving into the heart of a concept, while providing insight into it. A good collection of interesting problems, most with solutions in the back of the book. This makes this book very good for self study. If you liked Rudin, you'll probably like this book as well, as it is written in a similar style. If someone knows of a better introduction, do let me know.

This is a lean fast introduction to topology at the third or fourth year level. Pure math types only. The book is terse but the topics are selected with care and one things leads to the next. The proofs are sufficiently detailed. Nearly every exercise has a solution in the back. The clearest exposition of the fundamental group I've seen.