A Book of Abstract Algebra

For abstract algebra, I'd go with Pinter's "A Book of Abstract Algebra" (ABoAA) [1]. The other recommendations given so far for abstract algebra are fine, but Pinter's organization makes it I think work better for self-study, and it is much more friendly on the wallet because it is a Dover edition. It's currently $14.89 on Amazon ($6.49 eBook). ABoAA tends to divide the material into short chapters with lots of exercises. A typical chapter is around 5 pages of text and 5 pages of exercises. The ratio of text to exercises varies a bit but mostly will be in the 40-60% range for the text. Chapters are mostly around 10 pages +/- 3. The exercises for each chapter are split into several sections each section covering a different aspect of the chapter's material. Sometimes there is a section of exercises applying the material to some interesting area. For example, the chapter on groups of permutations has 6 pages of text, then 5 pages of exercises divided into N sections.…