Rating: 
Summary: Worthless for Mathematicians
Review: This book contains endless discussion which cannot be considered as mathematical proofs in any culture. It is really shameful that this book is used in the graduate linear algebra course in my school!
Rating: 
Summary: Had it cost half as much, I'd give it all 5 stars
Review: This book has some great parts in it, but half of it is extremely difficult to comprehend, and whatever you do get out of it is not worth that much money. The author should update and expand this book already, and give a clearer presentation.
Rating:
Summary: 0 stars
Review: This book is bad in every way. It neither promotes better understanding of linear algebra, nor does it present a good depth of material. This text isn't worth the money because you learn almost nothing, but you do get to read Strang's mumbo jumbo about how beatiful linear algebra is. I agree with him here, but how about he just sat down and taught me? I had to read other books to learn the material. My two favorites are "Elementary Linear algebra" by Anton, and "Modern algebra" by Warner. The second one is a general algebra book, but goes into considerable depth on vector spaces, linear transformations and inner product spaces--the three fundamental concepts which Strang omits for fear that they'll clutter the students' "weak minds".
Rating:
Summary: Better left on the shelf
Review: This book is inadequate for an introductory linear algebra class. I just finished taking one, where this book was used as the only text book. This was a short course, so we only covered first three chapters out of eight. My gripe with the book is lack of examples. The majority of examples are given in "letters", so to speak, with only an occasional numerical example. Another problem are very concise explanations. The authors seems to rely on assumption after assumptions instead of taking his time and pointing out something that you should already know, but may have forgotten, or simply saying that he's assuming that you know how to get from here to here. The text is hard to follow: after reading three paragraphs or so, I found myself rereading the text, coming back to see if there's something I missed. I must admit that I am not too strong on purely abstract mathematics, so my conclusion is that this book can only be used in a class filled with math majors. In other sorts of classes, I would strongly recommend not using this book as the main text, as it provides insufficient explanation and examples. Finally, one good thing about this book: it's a good reference. Assuming you know the material, everything in it will make sense, it will have just enough information for you to use it as a reference, without overflowing you with examples. But please, don't use this in an introductory linear algebra class!
Rating: 
Summary: A SUPERB EFFORT
Review: this book is the best introduction to linear algebra i have seen. other linear algebra books usually fall into one of two categories: books that emphasize applications but lack mathematical rigour, or books that are too abstract to enhance understanding. this book really teaches the theory of linear algebra and all of the intuition behind it without emphasing abstractness for it's own sake. for example - why is matrix multiplication defined as it is? this important question is seldom answered in other texts. there are some applications, especially from numerical linear algebra. this book is ideal for a first course, after which you can turn to a more abstract one dealing with the formalities of rings, groups, fields, etc. note that complete proofs are usually not given; if it is important to you you can buy lang's "linear algebra" (which i think is the recommended text for a second course.)
Rating: 
Summary: Quick Intro, Verbose Proofs, Simple Problems
Review: This book offers a quick introduction to Linear Algebra. Problems are mostly number substitution or simple manipulation of the facts presented in the section. So if you are looking for tough problems to test your understanding this is not the book. However Dr Strang covers a wide variety of topics and he has generously uploaded his video lectures on the MIT Open Courseware Website. More power to him.
He presents the important results in a conversational style with adequate examples. So understanding the results are easy. However I find his style of presenting proofs a little bit too verbose. Overall a good intro book.
Rating:
Summary: Insight not rigor
Review: This book seems to have evoked a wide range of emotional responses - unusual for a technical book. I am an analyst at a major aerospace company and have found it to provide tremendous insight into the real world problems while providing the mathematical tools for a broad range of problems. If you are a mathematician looking for rigor, then you need to go elsewhere as this book provides a conversational approach versus a theorem-proof approach. If doing it for self-study, make sure and work the problems as it introduces you to new areas for further study. Before this book, I found the subject of linear algebra to be dry and lacking any interest due to the manner it was presented. It is actually one of the most interesting and directly applicable areas for an industrial mathematician to have as a background. Having steered several fellow workers to this book, I have consistently received positive feedback as to it's content. Another book I can recommend with a similar style is "The variational Principles of Mechanics" by Lanczos.
Rating: 
Summary: Linear Algebra and Beyond
Review: This book was my text for a comprehensive two-semester course in linear algebra I took over ten years ago. To this day, it remains one of my favorites I use as a reference. The ¡°applications¡± implied by the title has a double meaning. Several simplified yet representative problems taken from engineering and economics are well presented. In addition, another major theme throughout the text is the role of linear algebra applied to other areas of mathematics; notably calculus, differential equations, and optimization. Repeatedly, the author appeals to the reader¡¯s intuition, demonstrating the boundaries between mathematical topics by comparing and contrasting the discrete and continuous case of a problem. For example, the discussion of orthogonal vectors, vector spaces, and projections quickly moves from vectors to functions once we regard functions as infinite dimensional vectors containing infinite components. The discussion eventually leads to a very intuitive take on Fourier series and Legendre polynomials in the context of orthogonal projections. Other examples abound where Strang cohesively ties together various areas of math in a perspective that isn¡¯t emphasized enough in other texts. Hence, this is not only a book on linear algebra. To get the most out of the text requires familiarity with calculus encompassing multiple variables, vectors and some ordinary differential equations. Readers lacking this background will understand some sections only to be lost in others as coverage moves quickly from elementary concepts to topics where they have no previous exposure. Chapters 1-5 and half of 6 comprise the core of the book. The remainder provides satisfactory coverage of numerical linear algebra, the finite element method, and linear programming. However, a more thorough treatment of these topics is deferred to Strang¡¯s companion volume, Introduction to Applied Mathematics for which the core chapters provide a good prerequisite. One more word of caution: The author¡¯s enthusiasm of the subject is both a liability and an asset. Professor Strang sometimes has the annoying habit of summarizing the topic prior to presenting the lesson. Having to weed through his exultation to find where the lesson actually begins makes reading the book challenging at times. While the rigor in the text may fall short of the needs of pure mathematicians, I see no reason not to recommend this book to anyone seeking a solid foundation for further study in applied mathematics. Getting through the books requires some degree of patience but it¡¯s well worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent from which to teach yourself linear algebra.
Review: This has been one of the single most valuable texts on my bookshelf. It is ideal for independent study and is the type of book that can be opened to almost any page and easily understood. I would highly recommend this book to anyone trying to learn the basics of linear algebra. I would also recommend it as a supplement to any Quantum Mechanics curriculum.
Rating:
Summary: Think different ! (I don't mean Apple-Mac)
Review: This is a great book. The author has tremendous insight into the topic and a altogether different way of presenting the concepts to its readers. It may appear hard to grasp at the beginning, when the reader is not used to the style of Dr. Strang but if you stick along, this is the book that will provide you with a different way of looking at the problems and understanding them more than you ever did. I used this book on recomendation of my professor for a system analysis course at graduate level. and I do not hesitate to recomend it to anyone who wants to understand more that just the routine algebraic operations.
| 
