Introduction to Commutative Algebra

This is a true classic; see our review of the Addison-Wesley edition.

The book in hand is part of a series from Westview Press entitled Student Economy Editions. It is, so far, the only mathematics book in the series, though Peskin and Schroder on quantum field theory is also included. The edition is priced at $30, which is not inexpensive but is also not out of reach. Graduate students everywhere will be grateful for it.

The low price means, I assume, that the book is inexpensively produced. It does have some curious misfeatures. The cover lists only Michael Atiyah as the author, which may confuse some people looking for a book that is universally known as "Atiyah-MacDonald". More serious, for me, is the printing. The text is, of course, photographically reproduced from the original edition. Here is a scan from page 28 of my graduate school copy:

and here is a scan from the Student Economy Edition:

To make sure I was being fair, I used exactly the same steps to scan and format each image. There is clearly a "copy of a copy of a copy" effect going on, which is to be lamented.

That said, however, those with younger eyes may not mind as much as old fogeys like me will. 

Fernando Q. Gouvêa bought his copy of Atiyah-MacDonald in September, 1983 at the MIT Coop, having only just arrived in the United States for graduate school. Clearly the folks at Harvard told him this was a book he wanted. They were right.