The purpose of this book is to give an exposition of the so-called “pseudoAnosov”
theory of foliations of 3-manifolds. This theory generalizes Thurston’s
theory of surface automorphisms, and reveals an intimate connection between
dynamics, geometry and topology in 3 dimensions. Some (but by no means all) of
the content of this theory can be found already in the literature, especially [236],
[239], [82], [95], [173], [73], [75], [72], [31], [33], [35], [40] and [37], although I hope
my presentation and perspective offers something new, even to the experts.
This book is not meant to be an introduction to either the theory of foliations in
general, nor to the geometry and topology of 3-manifolds. An excellent reference
for the first is [42] and [43]. Some relevant references for the second are [127],
[140], [230], and [216].