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Does anyone have any suggestions for abstract algebra books particularly suited to self-study?


Here is some background and motivation, if it's helpful.

I'm currently a junior in high school, but I have some familiarity with groups, rings, polynomials and fields, as I went through Fraleigh's book. I liked its writing style, but many of the problems were not helpful. I would like to get better at algebra with some other book, particularly one that's aimed at someone who already has a little familiarity with the objects, but is by no means completely comfortable.

One of my longer-term goals is to learn a bit of algebraic number theory, as I've only been studying elementary number theory. That's why I feel it good to learn more algebra first. (I'd also be interested in suggestions of other good subjects to learn prior to tackling algebraic number theory.)

I was considering using one of Lang's books, since they seem pretty universal, but I've heard rumors that they are very terse and not good for self-learning.

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    Flagging for community wiki.2010-11-24
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    Dummit and Foote is a good one.2010-11-24
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    @Sivaram, thanks, I will check it out.2010-11-24
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    I browsed around and found "A book of abstract algebra" by Charles c. Pinter. Based on the positive reviews, I decided to try it (it hasn't arrived, yet). You might find it useful, too. (Do note that there are two versions on amazon: there's one for about 110 dollars and one for about 11 dollars, but the content is, as far as I know, the same.)2011-01-06
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    [My favorite](http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Translation-Cours-d-Algebre/dp/B0006E00F0).2015-07-01
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    You might like refer to previous MSE threads: [https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/49253/requesting-abstract-algebra-book-recommendations](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/49253/requesting-abstract-algebra-book-recommendations) and [https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/54839/good-abstract-algebra-books-for-self-study](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/54839/good-abstract-algebra-books-for-self-study) After digesting them I just started with Vinberg's "A course in algebra"2014-05-22

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