Introduction to Graph Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics)

This is an AMAZING book, the authors style is so clear, fun and entertaining, without much mathematical rigor. This is an excelent introduction to graph theory if I may say. Im an electrical engineer and been wanting to learn about the graph theory approach to electrical network analysis, surprisingly there is very little information out there, and very few books devoted to the subject. I started reading what is considered the reference in graph theory applied to electrical networks, namely "Linear Graphs and Electrical Networks" by Seshu and Reed, that book may be great when it comes to electrical networks, but it is just painful when explaining graph theory, just theorem after theorem followed by lengthy abstract proofs of such theorems. So I decided to look for something different to understand the basics of graph theory in a simpler way, and thus I found this book by Prof. Truedeau.This book is very well written, it has many examples and I never felt that the author skipped steps and assumed that the reader would fill in the blanks, everything is very detailed. The author seems to have a genuine interest on making things clear for the reader rather than displaying his vast knowledge on the subject. I must say however that I was disapointed that the book does not cover directed graphs, which are in fact needed for electrical network analysis and other physics related problems, yet most of the basics of graph theory are there. However I did fail to see basic concepts such as a "tree" (hidden under "open hamilton walk"), a "cut-set", the "rank" of a graph or the "nullity" of a graph and such, perhaps they are buried inside some of the end-of-chapter problems but I doubt it, some people may consider the use of such concepts belonging to a more advance graph theory book, although I think they are essential.Many chapters of the book are dedicated to the subject of planarity vs non planarity, and some basic concepts as the ones mentioned in the paragraph above were left out.This book by Prof. Trudeau has zero applied math examples, in fact the author begins the book by stating this is a purely mathematical book, however it serves as a great foundation for anyone wanting to understand graph theory. If you are like me, who is mostly interested in applied graph theroy, this book alone will not be enough, however this book is great to understand the basics of perhaps more difficult books on applied graph theory.So overall this is an amazing book, and the price is so low that makes this book a complete bargain, I highly recommend it.

The book arrived with a small water spot on the back cover, otherwise in good condition.This book is perfect for someone with little to no prior mathematical experience, other than maybe some high school algebra, it assumes pretty much no prior knowledge. As such it sacrifices some of the rigor you might be used to in a traditional math text, it's also wonderfully informal with just the right amount of humor to keep it from getting too dry, the author's writing style is reminiscent of Griffiths E&M. There are a lot of examples, which can feel like you're beating a dead horse, but it's better that it has more examples than necessary than not enough.I ordered this book after taking an undergraduate discrete math course, where graph theory was only touched on briefly; this was a nice second look at the subject. That being said, I think anyone with an interest in math could easily understand this book.I found that the explanation of isomorphisms and augmentations to be much more clear than my discrete book. The chapter on planar graphs seemed kind of long-winded, and if you are already familiar with what a graph is you could easily skip the first two chapters.

This is a superb first introduction to graph theory. It's highly accessible and easy to follow; personally, it helped me get interested in a topic I thought I hated but realized after study that I just hadn't had a good introduction to it. If you're looking for a place to start, or a good overview of the field, this is the book to start with; it's definitely prepared me for more advanced reading in the field.It's definitely elementary, so you might want to read more about the topic later (especially if you're interested in computer science applications like graph algorithms, which aren't covered), but if you haven't read much about the topic, are teaching yourself, or haven't taken topology yet, this is a great place to start. (Heck, maybe an overview of the field is all you actually want/need).The only odd thing structurally is that, when this book was initially going to press, the four-color theorem had just been proven. Rather than revise the appropriate section they chose to add an appendix describing the proof. It would've been a little better, in my opinion, to just revise the chapter in question.

For anyone interested in graph theory who has not taken many upper level math classes, or has yet to take a course in discrete mathematics, this is a great introduction. For anyone, at any level, this is a fun and entertaining read. The book reads as if the author were standing in front of you at the chalkboard, masterfully teaching you the basics of the material, almost in layman's terms (but not quite), all with a witty sense of humor and a tendency towards anecdotes.The material is in no way thorough, nor treated very rigorously. All the basics are there and taught in an intuitive manner. There are numerous exercises, none of which is difficult, but all of which are interesting to someone who is new to graph theory. Some of the key results that are simple to prove are done so in the exercises, encouraging readers to discover things for themselves.Downsides: If you are looking for a rigorous book on graph theory, look elsewhere. But that is really the only downside!Overall: I liked graph theory before reading this book. I loved graph theory after reading the first chapter.