Book excerpt: Originally published in 1970, Finite Dimensional Linear Systems is a classic textbook that provides a solid foundation for learning about dynamical systems and encourages students to develop a reliable intuition for problem solving. The theory of linear systems has been the bedrock of control theory for 50 years and has served as the springboard for many significant developments, all the while remaining impervious to change. Since linearity lies at the heart of much of the mathematical analysis used in applications, a firm grounding in its central ideas is essential. This book touches upon many of the standard topics in applied mathematics, develops the theory of linear systems in a systematic way, making as much use as possible of vector ideas, and contains a number of nontrivial examples and many exercises.