As good as it gets for the exposition of Modern Algebra for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students who might not have faced the subject of field extensions, solvability and Galois Groups in earlier Algebra classes.  The introduction does an especially good job of explaining "why" abstract algebra is a good thing for rigorous study, and ably presents many disparate examples as applications of the general results.  The one of digital encoding theory and presenting the whys and hows of Hamming-like codes is especially good, something lacking in almost every Computer Science teaching text I know of.<br><br>As the book approaches the final chapters of Field Extensions and Galois Theory, the writing style gets a little "chatty." But still is one of the most accessible expositions of what can be a very abstruse and arcane subject.<br><br>I can only agree with the reviewer below about "hiding" key general concepts in the exercises.  It is not even clear after working the exercises that some can be general ideas that could have found their way into the mainstream exposition.  Also the same gripe, for heaven sake, put at least hints or sometimes full solutions in the back of the book.  A math book that does this brilliantly, separating "hints" from "full solutions" even, is The Linear Algebra Problem Book by Paul Halmos.  Yes, they take up about half of the book, but are integral to Halmos' teaching style.  I sometimes feel that the reason to omit comprehensive hints/solutions is not to the benefit of the student, but for the convenience of professors who are too lazy to find their own "test" and "exam" material apart from this book.  For these reasons, only four out of five stars.