Featured Reviews in Mathematical Reviews 1995-1996 Reviews of Outstanding Recent Books and Papers

This collection of reprinted `Featured Reviews' published in Mathematical Reviews (MR) in 1995 and 1996 makes widely available informed reviews of some of the best mathematics published recently. `Featured Reviews' were introduced in MR at the beginning of 1995 in part to provide some guidance to the current research-level literature. With the exponential growth of publications in mathematical research in the first half-century of MR, it had become essentially impossible for users of MR to identify the most important new research-level books and papers, especially in fields outside of the users' own expertise. This work identifies some of the "best" new publications, papers, and books that are expected to have a significant impact on the area of pure or applied mathematics with which researchers are concerned. All of the papers reviewed here contain interesting new ideas or applications, a deep synthesis of existing ideas, or any combination of these. The volume is intended to lead the user to important new research across all fields covered by MR.