Discovering Modern Set Theory. I : The Basics

From the reviews: Serious graduate students ... would profit from reading the book for the mathematical maturity they would gain in the process. The conversational, almost Socratic, style of exposition is well suited to giving students some insight into the process of doing mathematics as well as to the importance of asking the right questions ... Just and Weese''s text would be ideally suited for...students who are serious about studying set theory. -Journal of Symbolic Logic The careful exposition, written in a lively and very readable style which addresses the reader rather directly, provides (by explanations, comments, and remarks) much information and motivation. Recommended. -Monatshefte fur Mathematik This book is an introduction to set theory for beginning graduate students who want to get a sound grounding in those aspects of set theory used extensively throughout other areas of mathematics. Topics covered include formal languages and models, the power and limitation of the Axiomatic Method, the Axiom of Choice, including the fascinating Banach-Tarski Paradox, applications of Zorn''s Lemma, ordinal arithmetic, including transfinite induction, and cardinal arithmetic. The style of writing, more a dialogue with the reader than that of the Master indoctrinating the pupil, makes this also very suitable for self-study.