Paul Cook

Say you know next to nothing about semisimple Lie groups, or even any kind of groups for that matter, but that you are math-literate and willing to read, then this book could be what you are looking for. It comes in a welcoming yellow hardback edition and there’s an errata online. Let’s be clear. Why not give yourself a treat and go and read: Lie Groups, Lie Algebras and Representations: An elementary introduction by Brian Hall. What else have you got to do?

Well now it sits on my shelf, at least one of its earlier incarnations does at least, replete with typos and mistakes, dog-eared, and riddled with curling yellow post-it notes as if slices of factory cheese exploded out from the words I wrote inside. It was not however an albatross, it was a pleasure to put together all the things I thought I knew in one place and see that really I didn’t understand much at all. I still look at it regularly. It’s like a fond family photo, keeping me company through all the long postdoc days.

There’s just not enough time…