You can find the same material in a bunch of books... but the exposition by Arveson is really superb. He actually EXPLAINS things, not just a list of theorems and proofs with no apparent reason.

The book is 130p only, so it might be ideal for self study. Not everything is in the text but if you want to try the exercises (you might need further reading to do some of them) and you do the extra reading from other sources, you will end up getting a good understanding.

The chapters are: 1. Spectral theory and Banach algebras, 2. Operators on Hilbert space, 3. Asymptotics: Compact perturbations and Fredholm theory and 4. Methods and applications

approximatelly 170 exercises.

The most inspiring book on the subject I have seen, up to now.