This book is a comprehensive introduction to the theory of stable commutator length, an important subfield of quantitative topology, with substantial connections to 2-manifolds, dynamics, geometric group theory, bounded cohomology, symplectic topology, and many other subjects. We use constructive methods whenever possible, and focus on fundamental and explicit examples. We give a self-contained presentation of several foundational results in the theory, including Bavard's Duality Theorem, the Spectral Gap Theorem, the Rationality Theorem, and the Central Limit Theorem. The contents should be accessible to any mathematician interested in these subjects, and are presented with a minimal number of prerequisites, but with a view to applications in many areas of mathematics. (added by author)