What's the meaning of "Topics in ... "?
&quot;Topics in&quot; usually means that the content is

not meant to be introductory (i.e., the reader is assumed to already have some prior familiarity with the subject), and

not meant to cover &quot;all the important things&quot;, but can focus on a selection of (well) topics the author is interested in.


For example, a &quot;Topics in Representation Theory&quot; course can afford to skip both the basic properties of finite group representations (as it is not introductory) and focus (e.g.) on quiver and Hopf algebras. Often, books will have more precise titles than &quot;Topics in...&quot;, but lecture notes often take their titles from those of the classes, which are often intentionally vague so they don't have to be changed every year depending on the lecturer. For a department, calling a class &quot;Topics in Algebra&quot; is an easy way to offer a course that will be on something different each year without the trouble of having to rename it every year.