Rating: 
Summary: Not for the simple minded
Review: Saying Calculus can be made easy is like saying a kick in the butt can be made enjoyable, but this little volume is a keeper none-the-less. I am no math wizard, but I found some of the fundamental info in here very helpful. The format is interesting and readable too. It aint the Sunday funnies, but I reccomend it if you are delving into higher math.
Rating: 
Summary: Much help
Review: In this book I really learned to understand much of calculus because in this book things are said in a clear manner without complications. I recommend it to anyone who is a calculus fan or needs to understand instead of memorizing
Rating:
Summary: Best Intro to CALC EVER!!!
Review: After looking all over the web and the library for calculus tutorials, the ones I found were to complicated-- the authors instead of aiming to let you learn it were using the traditional approach which basically shows off intelligence. I found this book and started reading it. I got everything, at the most I just had to read a passage 2 or 3 times. This covers differentiation, integration, maxima and minima and much much much more. I cant rate this book high enough. After trying those large textbooks-- and being stumped-- this book is excellent and easy to understand-- even a 14 yr old, like me, can understand. Buy it-- you won't regret.
Rating:
Summary: Linear Algebra introduced by Markov problems..
Review: Excellent review. Each of the TI 83 and 89 have
indicial approaches to the key sequencing mthods
of Markov. Who better that Scientific American's
Gardner to posit terse stroke line signatures.Sid Gillman, WOBC-FM, Oberlin, Arthron, Klaes Oldenberg of 67
Rating:
Summary: Finally explained calculus in a way I understood
Review: After 3 years of advanced mathematics in college and an engineering degree, everything I knew about calculus was rote: I could come up with the answers, but not because I understood the underlying principles or basis, but because I could memorize procedures. Years out of school, I bought this book and read it, and the light bulb turned on. I don't know whether I was just a bad student before, had bad teachers, or simply was presented the material in a way that was incompatible with the way I learn. In any case, this book did it for me, and perhaps it will do the same for others. I've since gone back through my old college math books, and they're as difficult to understand as they were the first time. If you know someone struggling with calculus, do them a favor and get them this book.
Rating:
Summary: Math Is Hard - Our Way of Life Depends On It!
Review: The mathematicians who write textbooks are invariably sadistic cretins with either no aptitude for effective communication or contempt for it. The dirty little secret of the textbook world is that students don't pick textbooks, so meeting a student's needs isn't a publisher's goal. A textbook author's primary goal is to solicit the approval and support of other academics. This is not a system that often rewards clarity or readable prose. After reading this book, I realized that calculus is really very simple and is based on a relatively small set of simple rules. It's incredible beauty and power comes from it's simplicity. Mathematicians have a habit of making very simple concepts sound more complicated than they are. A Definite Integral for instance, which is governed by something audaciously called The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, is subtraction - fricking subtraction. Anyone who couldn't "derive it" when needed should probably switch to a career that involves flame broiling and extra cheese. The obviousness of the Fundamental Theorem doesn't make it any less significant, but it does prove that the "hardness" of math is a function of how pretentious the expositor is. Thompson's relatively down to Earth and casual style helped me get excited about math again. If you're like me, you'll find yourself wondering what all the fuss was about after working through this book. It's a great book and an absolute must for anyone taking their first stab at calculus, especially if your professor is from Bangledesh and bribed someone to pass the TOEFL.
Rating:
Summary: Read before college Calculus
Review: This book is quite possibly the best introduction to the Calculus I have found. It presents the basic principles in a straight forward and easy to understand manner. If you are about to take calculus in college read this book first. Also, you should get a book dealing with mathematical inductive reasoning.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Introduction to Basic Calculus
Review: This book is great for those who simply can't understand the basic workings of calculus. The author gently introduces the concepts of derivation and integration, using terminology explicable to children. Although the author does a good job of presenting the ideas behind calculus, his efforts to connect this to the symbols and solutions of practical calculus problems are lacking.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Introduction To Calculus For Everyone
Review: High leverage: the highest amount of understanding for the least amount of reading. This is the book I learned calculus on due to the kindness and encouragement of my 6th grade teacher and her husband. It cuts to the simple ideas behind calculus so that you understand what is going on. This can be used by anyone who understands algebra to make the simple (!) leap to calculus. None of the complexities of most introductory books and it is actually modestly entertaining. This is not mathematically rigorous, but that is best left for 2nd year college math majors; not people struggling to figure out what calculus is and what it is useful for. I have a B.S. in Mathematics, with nearly 4 course years of college calculus, and this is still the best. I like to think that Newton and Leibnitz came to their intuitive (aha!) understanding of calculus through very similar thinking. Note: I have not read Martin Gardner's revision, but he is also a very good writer, whom I have read a lot from in Scientific American and in books.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden Gem
Review: I wish that I had been introduced to this book when I took math in my first year of college. It would have encourged me to not fear the big "C". I would hope that this book would be placed, always, on the list of math books to be examined. It should help a lot of students to continue to take math and not be intimidated by the fear of the unknown, which "...makes cowards of us all".
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