Book excerpt: From the reviews: "This is an excellent exposition about abelian Reidemeister torsions for three-manifolds." —Zentralblatt Math "This monograph contains a wealth of information many topologists will find very handy. ...Many of the new points of view pioneered by Turaev are gradually becoming mainstream and are spreading beyond the pure topology world. This monograph is a timely and very useful addition to the scientific literature." —Mathematical Reviews