This book treats that part of Riemannian geometry related to more classical topics in a very original, clear and solid style. Before going to Riemannian geometry, the author pre- sents a more general theory of manifolds with a linear con- nection. Having in mind different generalizations of Rieman- nian manifolds, it is clearly stressed which notions and theorems belong to Riemannian geometry and which of them are of a more general nature. Much attention is paid to trans- formation groups of smooth manifolds. Throughout the book, different aspects of symmetric spaces are treated. The author successfully combines the co-ordinate and invariant approaches to differential geometry, which give the reader tools for practical calculations as well as a theoretical understanding of the subject.The book contains a very useful large Appendix on foundations of differentiable manifolds and basic structures on them which makes it self-contained and practically independent from other sources. The results are well presented and useful for students in mathematics and theoretical physics, and for experts in these fields. The book can serve as a textbook for students doing geometry, as well as a reference book for professional mathematicians and physicists.
