Introduction to Graph Theory

This author has a charming writing style, although he suffers from a mathematician's sense of humor. A light introduction to graph theory, suitable for a beginning undergraduate student. Nothing is covered particularly in-depth, and the more difficult proofs are passed over and left to the reader to find and master. The exercises are very important--many of the most important theorems are hidden in there. This text is suitable for independent study, although an advisor would be helpful simply because the theorems hidden in the exercises make you want to have your homework checked. A further note on proofs: many of those that the author does include are constructionist, and seem to involve a lot of hand-waving. There are very few rigorous proofs, and a teacher using this book should instruct his or her students in the more formal approach to graph theory proofs. This text could benefit from including more. On the whole: nice diagrams, good notation, good order of material, and very accessible. I read this text during an undergraduate combinatorics course after having taken a semester of introductory graph theory.

A great -and gentle - introduction to Graph Theory... clear definitions and examples, great figures, useful exercises, and even some clever quotes. Everything you could ask for - if only all texts were this clear and well-organized. This was my first foray into the topic, and Wilson's text made it enjoyable.