Book excerpt: In this book, the authors geometrically construct Riemann surfaces of infinite genus by pasting together plane domains and handles. To achieve a meaningful generalization of the classical theory of Riemann surfaces to the case of infinite genus, one must impose restrictions on the asymptotic behavior of the Riemann surface. In the construction carried out here, these restrictions are formulated in terms of the sizes and locations of the handles and in terms of the gluing maps. The approach used has two main attractions. The first is that much of the classical theory of Riemann surfaces, including the Torelli theorem, can be generalized to this class. The second is that solutions of Kadomcev-Petviashvilli equations can be expressed in terms of theta functions associated with Riemann surfaces of infinite genus constructed in the book. Both of these are developed here. The authors also present in detail a number of important examples of Riemann surfaces of infinite genus (hyperelliptic surfaces of infinite genus, heat surfaces and Fermi surfaces). The book is suitable for graduate students and research mathematicians interested in analysis and integrable systems.