Book excerpt: Alexandr Danilovich Alexandrov has been called a giant of 20th-century mathematics. This volume contains some of the most important papers by this renowned geometer and hence, some of his most influential ideas. Alexandrov addressed a wide range of modern mathematical problems, and he did so with intelligence and elegance, solving some of the discipline's most difficult and enduring challenges. He was the first to apply many of the tools and methods of the theory of real functions and functional analysis that are now current in geometry. The topics here include convex polyhedrons and closed surfaces, an elementary proof and extension of Minkowski's theorem, Riemannian geometry and a method for Dirichlet problems. This monograph, published in English for the first time, gives unparalleled access to a brilliant mind, and advanced students and researchers in applied mathematics and geometry will find it indispensable.