The book on Abstract Algebra looks really good: http://www.math.uiowa.edu/~goodman/algebrabook.dir/algebrabook.html http://www.math.uiowa.edu/~goodman/algebrab

The book on Abstract Algebra looks really good: http://www.math.uiowa.edu/~goodman/algebrabook.dir/algebrabook.html http://www.math.uiowa.edu/~goodman/algebrabook.dir/algebrabo... It's written in the vernacular. It opens with a chapter full of concrete stuff -- patterns and symmetries -- that's obviously useful in a lot of different fields. It draws a bright line between the important results and the extra stuff you wind up knowing as a byproduct of working through the extension problems. (I'm looking at you, Artin.)