Re: New book: Basic Category Theory

["Harley D. Eades III" <harley.eades@gmail.com>]

Hi, Tom.

Congrats on the successful completion of your book!

I really like your idea on a second book.  Such a book would be
very helpful for young researchers and students in my opinion.

Has anyone thought about doing it as a group effort in the same
spirit as the homotopy type theory book was?

A number of authors would make the writing burden far less per author,
and potentially speed up the writing process.

Anyway, just an idea.

I really like how you're are making your new book editable and readable for
free in 18 months.  This is a great idea, and a service to the community.

The second book should do the same.

Very best,
.\ Harley

On Jul 27, 2014, at 3:15 PM, Tom Leinster <Tom.Leinster@ed.ac.uk> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> It's not clear that the world needs another introductory book on category
> theory, but I've written one:
>
>   Tom Leinster, Basic Category Theory.
>   Cambridge University Press, published 24 July 2014.
>
>   http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~tl/bct
>
> Its main features: it doesn't assume much, it sticks to the basics, and
> it's short.  You can read some extracts at the web address above.
>
> In 18 months, it will be both freely downloadable and freely editable.
> So if it's not quite suitable for a course you're teaching, or if you
> don't like the notation (and when have two category theorists ever agreed
> on that?), you'll be able to change it.  More details when the time comes.
>
>
> What the world does need, I think, is a *second* book on category theory,
> picking up where Categories for the Working Mathematician leaves off.  Of
> course, we already have Francis Borceux's magnum opus, but I think there's
> also a market for something much shorter.  I'm envisaging a book of
> similar length to CWM, and written with a similarly selective ethos.
> Tentative list of chapters, in no particular order:
>
> * Enriched categories
> * 2-categories (and a little on higher categories)
> * Ends and Kan extensions (already in CWM, but maybe worth another pass)
> * Topos theory (clearly just an introduction!) and categorical set theory
> * Fibrations
> * Bimodules, Morita equivalence, Cauchy completeness & absolute colimits
> * Flat functors and locally presentable categories
> * Operads and Lawvere theories
> * Categorical logic (again, just a little) and internal category theory
> * Derived categories.
>
> Someone else should definitely write a book like that.
>
> Best wishes,
> Tom
>
> --
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>


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