Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the best out there...but that's not saying much...
Review: I am in something of a unique position to critique this book. You see, I have, due to the fact that I attended different schools and therefore had different teachers for Calculus I, II, and III, been forced to buy three different ... calculus textbooks. I feel that this book in many ways is the best. Keep in mind, however, that this isn't saying much. For the most part, calculus (and math in general) textbooks are somewhat difficult to learn from. This stems from the fact that we students like to see lots of worked out example in order to "get" it (buy Schaum's outline or REA's Problem Solver for lots of worked examples). In many cases, a calculus book like this will give you, perhaps, one example for a given procedure and leave it to you to deduce the rest. Still, I like the fact that this book contains the material for Calc. I, II, and III. If nothing else, it saves us some money. One final comment: as another reviewer on amazon has already noted, the binding on this book is quite poor. I have seen many other students in my class with books in which the pages have started falling out. Perhaps Prentice Hall should provide us with a better binding for a hundred bucks.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally a great calculus book!
Review: I was looking at calculus books for my mathematics department at the University of Wisconsin, and was delighted to find this book. It's concise without being overwhelming, accurate without being too wordy, and the topics are arranged in the order in which they should be taught. I will definitely recommend this book to my department for adoption! To provide a bit more detail: First of all, at 800 pages, this book is one of the "leanest" on the market; the authors have clearly made an effort to stick with the essentials. Still, the instructor can choose to skip some of the harder topics or proofs; the book can be used with technology; etc. Most importantly, the authors don't "lie" to the reader: When some proof is too hard for this book, they will give you some intuition and then send you to a more advanced book to see the "real" proof. Finally, the book is written very carefully, no tricky details are glossed over or swept under the rug. Overall, this is a great book! Try it!
Rating: 
Summary: Buy Swokowski's Calculus instead.
Review: It's hard to believe that this puzzling, error-filled book is in its 7th edition. I've been using the book for two semesters in a distance learning program. In this setting, where the reader needs to learn from the book rather than from an instructor, the book is inadequate. It's single strength - brevity - doesn't make up for its weaknesses: mystifying explanations, worked examples that omit important steps, and errors. Many times, this book made me laugh out loud when, after literally hours of effort, I finally understood what the authors were trying to communicate. There is no way I could have completed my classes had I not had Swokowski to refer to. Beyond these weaknesses, the book is loaded with throw-away Horatio Algerisms ("Skill at this, like most worthwhile activities, depends on practice.") and hokey humor ("We have no desire to let this text suffer from the standard ailment of older texts, called 'revisionitis.'") These give the book a dated, musty feel: it's as if you are looking back at how calculus used to be taught 40 years ago. Finally, six weeks into the first semester, the binding failed, converting the book into an expensive, 900-page, loose-leaf folder. Overall, not a book I enjoyed spending time with.
Rating:
Summary: it's an average math book
Review: Not the best book to have for a calculus course. Example are limited and often don't cover strategies needed to do problems in chapter. The things it does have examples for are done very well usually.
Rating:
Summary: Classic "Attachable" book
Review: Requirements for all books should be; (a). being able to feel attachment for.
(b). clearly understandable to readers in the assumed level.
(c). benefitial to buy and read.
(d).[equivalent to (a), (b), and (c)]. unique. This book satisfies all the above conditions [and (d)]. The style is very accessible to everyone who knows algebra. Math lovers who want to go beyond algebra should buy this book. Now, its particular uniqueness are the followings: mine has been separated into many stapled pages, though I personally like to sort them whenever I touch the book; examples are enough to illustrate introduced theorems. Of course, it doesn't end up with down-to-earth proofs. Wherever that might happen, it says so, and theorems that can not be proven with attainable knowledge are "left for advanced Calculus courses." Consequently, all presented proofs are quite rigorous in understandability. (c) will follow for appropriate readers. Good to start with, and will be one of your old friends.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear, systematic presentation
Review: The book consistently presents calculus as a series of variations on a theme, which are returned to again and again. The emphasis is clearly on applying underlying concepts rather than memorization of a 'cookbook' of rote methods. There is a wide variety of problems, of varying difficulty, including several different areas of application. The book does assume that the student has thoroughly mastered college algebra; sometimes, in the interest of brevity, methods of solution are explained only briefly. The solutions manual is much more thorough and complete.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: The professor from the University of Wisconsin makes good points. We have long since adopted this textbook at the University of North Carolina, where I have taught from this text for about 5 years. This text appeals to the professional mathematician in an almost irresistible way as it elucidates clearly those aspects of basic calculus which appeal to US as mathematicians---namely, there is a fairly rigorous discussion of Riemann integration, there is dogged attention to historical factoids, and so forth---aspects lacking from other texts. However, my students are universally non-plussed. Every semester, my evaluations are CHOCK full of students who specific comment that they didn't like their text and were actually using a different text that they checked out of the library. That, unfortunately, is the proof in the pudding. My students dislike the text, universally. In the book's favor however, as mentioned by the professor from Wisconsin, the topic order is very logical, the book is as small as it can be, it does its best to take some advantage of calculator technology, and treats most topics rigorously. I am sure however that the advantages of this book are largely lost on the students. I myself would advocate for a different text, if it were up to me. I have seen no reason to justify this fairly expensive book in lieu of one of the somewhat cheaper standard texts.
Rating:
Summary: I am simply not impressed.
Review: The professor from the University of Wisconsin makes good points. We have long since adopted this textbook at the University of North Carolina, where I have taught from this text for about 5 years. This text appeals to the professional mathematician in an almost irresistible way as it elucidates clearly those aspects of basic calculus which appeal to US as mathematicians---namely, there is a fairly rigorous discussion of Riemann integration, there is dogged attention to historical factoids, and so forth---aspects lacking from other texts. However, my students are universally non-plussed. Every semester, my evaluations are CHOCK full of students who specific comment that they didn't like their text and were actually using a different text that they checked out of the library. That, unfortunately, is the proof in the pudding. My students dislike the text, universally. In the book's favor however, as mentioned by the professor from Wisconsin, the topic order is very logical, the book is as small as it can be, it does its best to take some advantage of calculator technology, and treats most topics rigorously. I am sure however that the advantages of this book are largely lost on the students. I myself would advocate for a different text, if it were up to me. I have seen no reason to justify this fairly expensive book in lieu of one of the somewhat cheaper standard texts.
Rating:
Summary: this book is excellent for a quick learner
Review: this book is excellent material for a quick learner. However the book lack details. the author assumes that student should be able do problems without giving examples.buy it if you want throw away your money.I think the author could do a better job example explaining derivates and limits. This book includes a answer book which is also a waste for money. Answer book should show details, not just answers. Also answers are provide for add number problems which are often less defficult to work. Its better than some calculus book i have used but definately not a good buy.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, readable, understandable text.
Review: This book is thoroughly at home with the important concepts of single-variable Calculus for beginners, and has an exceptionally fine manner of explanation that appeals both to my AP Calculus students and me. The author is careful to give rigorous proofs when needed, which is often, and informal proofs elsewhere, so that in the latter event the student does not get bogged down with such an exhaustive degree of proof that the concept suffers, especially where self-evident yet hard-to-prove theorems are concerned. Topics covered are comprehensive and co-ordinated. I find the level perfectly suited to a bright high school senior class, ie. for AP Calculus. There is extensive reference to, and questions designed for the use of, graphing calculators. In that regard this text is right in line with recent AP Calculus requirements. With a vast array of clear, illuminating examples, well illustrated with excellent diagrams, this text is a joy to learn from. Accompanying each topic is a very substantial number of questions, ordered by an extensive variance in degrees of difficulty. There is a student answer book which contains detailed solutions of all the odd-numbered questions, and a teacher's answer book for the evens. I have come back to the teaching of Calculus at high school after a hiatus of many years. This text has been a very effective, most excellent refresher for me, and a great first text for my students. As the book is a preliminary edition, there are some annoying little errors here and there, particularly in the solutions or worked examples. Fortunately they are usually completely obvious. Also because it is preliminary, this text is in soft cover, not ideal as a course text. I chose this book after reviewing about a dozen or so of better known, established and well-regarded single-variable Calculus texts. It seemed at the time to be clearly the best of the lot. Putting it to the test since has done nothing but strengthen that opinion. A really first rate text book
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