John Milnor is professor of mathematics and codirector of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. Winner of the Fields Medal, he is the author of several books, including Lectures on the H-Cobordism Theorem (Princeton).

• *Frontmatter, pg. i*PREFACE, pg. vii*CONTENTS, pg. ix* 1. INTRODUCTION, pg. 1* 2. ELEMENTARY FACTS ABOUT REAL OR COMPLEX ALGEBRAIC SETS, pg. 9* 3. THE CURVE SELECTION LEMMA, pg. 25* 4. THE FIBRATION THEOREM, pg. 33* 5. THE TOPOLOGY OF THE FIBERAND OF K, pg. 45* 6. THE CASE OF AN ISOLATED CRITICAL POINT, pg. 55* 7. THE MIDDLE BETTI NUMBER OF THE FIBER, pg. 59* 8. IS K A TOPOLOGICAL SPHERE ?, pg. 65* 9. BRIESKORN VARIETIES AND WEIGHTED HOMOGENEOUS POLYNOMIALS, pg. 71* 10. THE CLASSICAL CASE: CURVES IN C2, pg. 81* 11. A FIBRATION THEOREM FOR REAL SINGULARITIES, pg. 97*APPENDIX A. WHITNEY'S FINITENESS THEOREM FOR ALGEBRAIC SETS, pg. 105*APPENDIX B. THE MULTIPLICITY OF AN ISOLATED SOLUTION OF ANALYTIC EQUATIONS, pg. 111*BIBLIOGRAPHY, pg. 117

"John Milnor, Winner of the 2011 Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters"