Book excerpt: A significant part of the 2004 Summer Research Conference on Algebraic Geometry (Snowbird, UT) was devoted to lectures introducing the participants, in particular, graduate students and recent Ph.D.'s, to a wide swathe of algebraic geometry and giving them a working familiarity with exciting, rapidly developing parts of the field. One of the main goals of the organizers was to allow the participants to broaden their horizons beyond the narrow area in which they are working. A fine selection of topics and a noteworthy list of contributors made the resulting collection of articles a useful resource for everyone interested in getting acquainted with the modern topic of algebraic geometry. The book consists of ten articles covering, among others, the following topics: the minimal model program, derived categories of sheaves on algebraic varieties, Kobayashi hyperbolicity, groupoids and quotients in algebraic geometry, rigid analytic varieties, and equivariant cohomology. Suitable for independent study, this unique volume is intended for graduate students and researchers interested in algebraic geometry.