Sieve theory has a rich and romantic history. The ancient question of whether there exist infinitely many twin primes (primes p such that p+2 is also prime), and Goldbach's conjecture that every even number can be written as the sum of two prime numbers, have been two of the problems that have inspired the development of the theory. This book provides a motivated introduction to sieve theory. Rather than focus on technical details which can obscure the beauty of the theory, the authors focus on examples and applications, developing the theory in parallel. The text can be used for a senior level undergraduate course or an introductory graduate course in analytic number theory, and non-experts can gain a quick introduction to the techniques of the subject.

'… provides a motivated introduction to sieve theory. The text can be used for a senior level undergraduate course or for an introductory graduate course in analytical number theory and non experts can gain a quick introduction to the technique of the subject.'

Source: L'enseignement mathematique

'Often sieve theory is considered to be technically complicated and difficult to learn. This excellent introductory book however brings the interested student quickly into a position to apply sieve methods successfully to various problems in analytic number theory.'

Source: Zentralblatt MATH

'… the shortest and simplest book on sieve methods that I have seen … beginners will appreciate the clear path laid out towards the modern theory. I enthusiastically recommend [this] book to any newcomer to the subject.'

Frank Thorne Source: Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society