Rating: 
Summary: Very comprehensive and thourough.
Review: Recently I was at the book store searching for a calculus book such as this one to purchase. The store had many study guides and the like, and after reading a few pages of each book I grabbed, I found Kelley's book to be the most comprehensive.What made this book special was that every page of information is accompanied by an illustration and/or a side note, and these items help to further make the caluclus concepts and methods more understandable. Other calculus books did not utilize illustrations, graphs, and side notes as this one did. For example, u-substitution for integrals was well explained and I understood it in Kelley's book, whereas in a few other calculus books, I had difficulty understanding. This book covers all the necessary calculus material for a first-year calculus class: limit and continuity, differentiation, and integration. However, particularly good about this book is that there are chapters on such things as parametric equations, differential equations, and infinite series - things that other calculus books, such as "How to Ace Caluclus: The Streetwise Guide," didn't even mention. This book also contains heavy algebra and trigonometry review in the early chapters, in case you need a reference to brush up. Even more, Kelley's manner of explaining the calculus concepts and methods are clear and simple, described with liveliness and humor. Each chapter, and the calculus concept it contained, was well delineated. Perhaps my only criticism is that there are not enough practice problems for the reader. Each section contains one or two "You've Got Problems" boxes, which then only contain one or two problems. Some other books on the subject contained far more pages and examples for your to practice your new knowledge of calculus. A full practice calculus test at the end, containing problems from every chapter, would have made this book perfect. Still, the comprehensive and clear-cut value of Kelley's lessons make this book very worthwhile for anyone about to take a calculus class for the first time, such as myself - or anyone who is simply curious on the subject and wants to impress their friends with this knowledge. Due to such comprehensive lessons, and because this book covers material that some other books on the subject do not, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus" is perhaps one of the top study guides on calculus. I strongly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Great for understanding more conceptually
Review: This book does a very good job in getting behind the scenes and understanding why you are doing what you are doing. Here is a quote, brackets [] are mine: "When I first took calculus in high school, I was hip-deep in evaluating limits via tons of different techniques before I realized that I had no idea what exactly I was doing, or why. I am one of those people who needs some sort of universal understanding in a math class, some sort of framework to visualize why I am undertaking the process at hand. Unfortunately, calculus teachers are notorius for explaining how to complete a problem... but not explaining what the problem means."
"Any sort of equation in math is classified as a relation, as the equation describes a specific way that the variables and numbers in the equation are related [relate to each other]. Relations don't have to be equations, although that is how they are most commonly written."
"A relation is a collection of related numbers. Most often, the relationship between the numbers is described by an equation, although it can be given simply as a list of ordered pairs. Ordered pairs, meaning, a list of inputs and outputs, in essence, your saying, "if you give me a particular input number, then I will give you this particular output number".
"It is more useful, especially in Calculus, to not give an ordered list but instread a relation (function or equation)."
"So a function is a specific kind of relation. In a function, no input is allowed to give you more than one output." So as you can see the explanations are pretty thorough, and that is the general tone of the book, although it does give the formulas. So it is not an intense Calculus book, but more of going through the Calculus a bit more lightly but then emphasizing conceptually more what is going on. Here a couple more excerpts: "Need to understand limits to understand derivatives and integrals and calculating the slope of a tangent line to a nonlinear function." "A 'tangent line' is a line that just barely skims across the edge of the graph to hit it in one point, called the 'point of tangency'." "A secant line, on the other hand, is a line that crudely hacks right through a curve, usually hitting it in at least two places." "The derivative of a curve tells us the instantaneous rate of change of the curve. This is the key, because a curvy function changes at different rates throughout it's domain -- sometimes increasing quickly and the tangent line is steep (causing high derivative value), other times it is increasing slowly (less steep of a slope), and other times negative (slope is going down [ie. negative y value with respect to positive x value)]."
Rating:
Summary: Great for understanding more conceptually
Review: This book doesn't just give you the techniques on how to work Calculus problems, but also provides conceptual insights to help you understand what in the world you are really doing. The author seeks to deliver a greater understanding to the reader of what Calculus is about. The author states his experience in high school Calculus this way, "When I first took calculus in high school, I was hip-deep in evaluating limits via tons of different techniques before I realized that I had no idea what exactly I was doing, or why. I am one of those people who needs some sort of universal understanding in a math class, some sort of framework to visualize why I am undertaking the process at hand." The general tone of the book is to see that the reader understands Calculus at a deeper level, so that they don't go through Calculus having no idea of what and why they are doing what they are doing. I especially like when he explains things in non-technical definitions, for instance, "The derivative of a curve tells us the instantaneous rate of change of the curve. This is the key, because a curvy function changes at different rates throughout it's domain -- sometimes increasing quickly and the tangent line is steep (causing high derivative value), other times it is increasing slowly (less steep of a slope), and other times negative (slope is going down)." This books tone to me was not so much a intense Calculus book, but less technical, conceptual discussion on Calculus.
Rating:
Summary: A great Supplement
Review: This book is great as a reference or a supplement. Not a supplement to your calculus book, but to your teacher. (My calculus book might as well be written in greek) The book shows you the basic techniques and ways to think about a problem. It is also witty and humorous. The book was great!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book.
Review: this book is the best. its not boring and doesnt make you fall asleep. Mr. Kelley's jokes keep u awake. its interesting to read, and you also learn calculus. it doesn't have all the small little details.. but it does have the big picture and basic stuff that you need to understand. such as the confusing limit E stuff that most textbooks use. in this book it skips that and explains it in a better more understandable way. i think its a great book, you just have to read it and most people will love it. i agree that it does not have many pratice problems.. but thats what textbooks are for. i suggest you get this book if you are taking calculus. it doesn't help very much with calculus II or III. i wish there was a book just like this for calc II and III. if you don't trust any of the review here, go to the bookstore and look through it for yourself. im sure ull like it too.
Rating:
Summary: Great suppliment to text
Review: This book provides explanations in key areas that the the text book "assumes" you know. It doesn't replace the text book but it enhances it in valuable ways -- explaining key concepts clearly. It helps you get the added understanding that can really make a difference. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: More difficult than a textbook
Review: This book starts out painfully slowly, leading you to believe that when the author gets to the hard stuff, he'll go slowly enough so you can follow him. Bus as soon as he gets to integrals and derivatives, he seems to speed up. I wanted many more simple examples of these basic ideas so I could actually understand how they were being solved. For example, instead of slowly teaching you how to find integrals, he gives three (three!) "easy" examples before he adds on sine functions and the like. Look at other calculus books before you buy this one. What would be covered in an entire chapter in a textbook is covered in half of a page here. Idiot's Guide my fanny.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, may not cover Engineering versions of Calc
Review: This is by far the best guide to learning calc, it is well written and has the perfect balance between explanations and examples. Kelly is a good writer and most of the introductory concepts are shown. However and the BIG however is this book does not hit on some of the more advanced topics of either Calc I or Calc II. So right when you are hitting the hardest subjects you won't find any similar examples. In short, it may work great for a community college math class, but at a major research university they are going to go in more depth then this book covers. None the less it is a great guide.
Rating:
Summary: Taking Calculus, get this book!!
Review: Twelve years after my first degree, I am going for another. I am taking Calculus for the physical sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey. I have to say, this course is a lot of work. Mr. Kelley's books is extremely clear and fun to read. He doesn't get deep into theorems, but he does pack this book full of everything else. I used this text as an essential resource when studying for my first midterm exam (yes we have 2 midterms). I only used my notes and class text to go over certain theorems. Hats off to Mr. Kelley for creating such a wonderful book. Oh BTW...first midterm exam score B+. Second midterm exam score B+! Final Grade: B+ hip hip wooha!
Rating:
Summary: Calc student
Review: Wow, this book definately has all the litle tips and tricks you need if your professor isn't the type to let you in on the math secrets that make learning calc easier. I bought it for myself midway through calc 1 and definately did infinately better- things were so organized and instead of rummaging through pages of scribble, i simply flipped to nice little tables and charts for things like derivatives and integrals until i finally learned them properly (which this book teaches you to do also) i liked it so much that i gave it to my little sister and her friend who are starting in the spring and reccomended it to my new roommate for the fall! it also has a nice section of review so if you forgot your college algebra, trig, and geometry all the important stuff is right there!
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