Rating: 
Summary: Strang is lazy
Review: In the preface, Strang complains that linear algebra has been taught too abstractly. After reading this book, I realize he was just finding excuses to slack off and avoid rigor. This book is written for you average kindergartner. I was shocked by lack of rigor and complete disregard for accepted mathematical methods. Strang treats linear algebra like a literature class, and lazily strolls through it avoiding all difficult proofs, theorems, and concepts. He can probably explain some of the material half-decently so you can understand the basic idea, but this text doesn't deserve to be called a math book--it's disgusting.Buy one of the other textbooks suggested by others, or just about any other linear algebra book. All others I've seen make attempts to be as rigorous as possible. Strang only makes excuses about his lack of teaching talent and complete laziness.
Rating: 
Summary: A quality book
Review: It seems that the people who are griping about the textbook are saying one of two things: (1) it's too hard, or (2) it's too easy. I guess you can't make everybody happy. This is not linear algebra for people who hate math, nor is it the definitive reference encyclopedia on linear algebra from God. But it's excellent in communicating informal ideas and intuitive understanding. I've personally found this book to be quite useful in several courses I've taken at MIT and Stanford, often times offering a superior explanation to overly abstract and rushed arguments in other books. There have been occasions when I couldn't understand a point even after several readings in another book, picked up Strang, and got it right away.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent development of the subject
Review: It was some years ago when I first took a Linear Algebra course and fortunately the instructor choose this as the text book. I thought that Strang's explanations were superior to the lectures given in class and I could have easily gotten through the course by reading this book and taking the tests ! Just recently I have had to go back and relearn this subject and this book was almost joy to read (well O.K. it is a math book). Mr Strang has the rare ability of making this subject intuitively obvious and convincing. He starts from very a modest beginning of solving systems of linear equations and then makes the almost seamless transition to matrices and vectors by a change of perspective. As the subject is developed, Mr Strang makes every effort he can to clearly present the material as does not defer to the usual "left as a an excercise for the reader" device to evade explaining the subject. The narrative is lively and enthusiatic and sometimes even humorous and has lots of reminders of previously mentioned ideas to keep the text flowing. If more math books were written like this, then fewer people would complain about obscurity of this subject.
Rating:
Summary: strang -- master of gumflapping
Review: More talk than math, coupled with extremely simplified presentation makes for an easy-reading book, which leaves you with a feeling of having learnt nothing. I actually tried "Linear Algebra" by Friedberg et.al. recommended by an earlier reviewer and it's excellent (and cheaper). Read that instead.
Rating:
Summary: School's out, might as well slag off my textbooks!
Review: Ok. So I bought this book for my class, and it was garbage. I mean, I didn't learn a thing. It was confusing, and the professor was really hard, and I don't know why she required it at all. So I'd recommend that you not bother with this book. It doesn't help, and it makes things really confusing. I mean, this book is so bad that I bet I wouldn't have learned anything even if I had read it.
Rating:
Summary: A horrible treatment.
Review: Strang tells us in the preface that linear algebra is a beautiful subject, and he is correct. Yet he seems intent on strangling its theoretical beauty with a matrix based approach to vector spaces, and an ugly preoccupation with R^n. It's clear that this book was not written to be either a lucid explanation of how to use linear algebra, nor was it intended to be an aesthetically pleasing exposition of theoretical linear algebra. It was written somewhere in between, and it is an unhappy medium. If you are interested in a theoretical treatment of linear algebra, there are sorrowfully few good texts available. The title of Axler's "Linear Algebra Done Right" is a result of this fact, and if you are seeking a mathematically pure treatment of the subject, that book is a much better choice. If you're not interested in the theory, but only the applications, you should still be able to find a much better text than Strang's.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good
Review: The book is a good intro to linear algebra, and some of the things Gil does haven't been seen in other linear algebra books. But, there are some drawbacks. In many parts of the book, he gets so excited that he forgets that he's teaching the subject instead of conversing with a colleague. You certainly feel like you are in the middle of a lively discussion, but he ends up skipping many steps. A good example would be FFT. Only after I read a good complex analysis book was I even able to understand all the deal with complex roots of unity. Ch6 and 7 are very tough to understand, as are certain parts of other chapters, and all for the same reason that Gil gets excited and starts to hurry. I would have to question his overly conversational style, as it often gets in the way of a good explanation. Math books, unless for the casual reader, should be, not necessarily dry, but definitely rigorous and painstaikingly accurate. However, this book would serve as a good intro. Whatever gets through Dr. Strang's enthusiasm is clear. But you should look for other books if you want a wealth of information.
Rating:
Summary: not worth the money
Review: The book isn't all that bad. You can probably have a
reasonable understanding of linear algebra after reading
it, but there is very little coherent material here. Most
of the book are random ramblings and discussions which
aren't really proofs but are passed off as them. In short,
the text is very shallow and not rigorous at all. Suffice it
to say that there are better books out there--both in terms
of the number/variety of topics and in depth/rigor. Stay away from this text...it's a huge waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: Is he writing to his grand kids?
Review: The books tone is so casual it's laughable at times. The author tries very hard to make the book sound approachable and understandable but manages to confuse the explanation with poor prose due to an inability to communicate through words.
Rating:
Summary: Very sad
Review: The writer does not have enough examples, and does not explain material well. It is a totally problematic book, in that, it assumes you know, and this is a book for starters? Actually 0 stars.
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