Book excerpt: Although there are some books dealing with algebraic theory of automata, their contents consist mainly of Krohn-Rhodes theory and related topics. The topics in the present book are rather different. For example, automorphism groups of automata and the partially ordered sets of automata are systematically discussed. Moreover, some operations on languages and special classes of regular languages associated with deterministic and nondeterministic directable automata are dealt with. The book is self-contained and hence does not require any knowledge of automata and formal languages.