From the reviews: "... This is one of the few mathematical books, the reviewer has read from cover to cover ...The main merit is that nearly on every page you will find some unexpected insights... " Zentralblatt für Mathematik</P>

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"... There are few proofs in full, but there is an exhilarating combination of sureness of foot and lightness of touch in the exposition... which transports the reader effortlessly across the whole spectrum of algebra...Shafarevich's book - which reads as comfortably as an extended essay - breathes life into the skeleton and will be of interest to many classes of readers; certainly beginning postgraduate students would gain a most valuable perspective from it but... both the adventurous undergraduate and the established professional mathematician will find a lot to enjoy..." Math. Gazette</P>

i.r. 沙法列維奇(igor r. shafarevich)，著名代數學傢。1923年6月3日生於烏剋蘭日托米爾 (zhytomyr)，羅濛諾索夫國立莫斯科大學教授。早年在斯捷剋洛夫數學研究所獲得博士學位（師從boris delone）。對代數數論、代數幾何和算術代數幾何有基本的重要貢獻。工作包括shafarevich-weil定理，golod-shafarevich定理、tate-shafarevich群、 grothendieck-ogg-shafarevich公式、néron-ogg-shafarevich 準則、有限可解群是有理數域上的galois群的證明、關於代數麯麵的研究等。1959年獲得列寜奬章。蘇聯（俄羅斯）科學院通訊院士和美國科學院外籍院士。

李福安，1944年1月生，浙江杭州人。1966年7月畢業於復旦大學數學係，1978年考取中國科學院數學研究所代數專業研究生（師從萬哲先院士），1981年12月獲理學碩士學位，1986年3月獲理學博士學位。從1981年12月起在中國科學院數學研究所（數學與係統科學研究院）工作，1993年11月晉升為研究員。任algebra colloquium副主編。