TITLE: Reference book for Galois Representations
QUESTION [8 upvotes]: I am an undergrad. I have taken courses in algebraic number theory and have a basic idea about $p$-adic numbers. I have also read a little bit of infinite Galois theory. But I have no idea about modular forms and automorphic forms and Galois cohomology.
I want to study about Galois Representations. All the books I have seen have titles like [some topic] and Galois Representations, where some topic=modular forms or automorphic forms.
Is there any textbook or lecture notes which does not require automorphic forms or modular forms as a prerequisite (suited especially for beginners)?

REPLY [5 votes]: You can see the book of J.P.Serre "Abelian l-adic representations and elliptic curves" a very nice presentation of Galois representations and properties !