In these lectures I'll try to give a whirlwind tour of this fascinating subject, stopping to smell at least some of the roses. I will also state a number of open problems along the way.

Lecture I will concentrate on the basics of the mapping class groups, including finite generation and vanishing H_1 of mapping class groups, and the Dehn-Nielsen-Behr theorem. One big theme here will be the relationship between topology, hyperbolic geometry, and the group theory of the mapping class group.

Lecture #12539

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