Prerequisites for Kirby Calculus? I've looked around, but I haven't found anything in particular on Google or here, so I figure I'd ask. What are some solid prerequisites to be able to tackle Kirby Calculus? 
I have a solid foundation in undergraduate analysis, working through graduate algebra now, and I have taken some courses in Statistics, along with a very brief introduction to topology. Thanks in advance!

Some experience with Poincare duality, (co)homology, the fundamental group, and vector bundles is probably necessary to get started (these should  all be covered either in first year courses on differential or algebraic topology at most universities). 
Some experience with knot theory, Morse functions, characteristic classes, and projective algebraic geometry (especially regarding blowing up the projective plane) can be very useful.
The first 3 chapters of Hatcher and a good portion of a book like Gulliemin-Pollack would probably be enough to give a book like Gompf-Stipsicz a try.
