Customer Rating: 
Summary: A great easy-going introduction to the subject
Comment: Before I even start talking about the actual book, let me just tell you that this is a steal. I don't know what the publisher was thinking, but a 750 page, recently published book on Calculus never sells for such a low price. On Amazon it sells for $16, which is a ridiculously low price for this 5 star tome. The average Calculus book is far from cheap, so this excellent guide is a pure bargain. Now, let's talk about the content of the book.
I'm very exigent when it comes to Calculus books and usually like a very formal and rigorous style. Most people don't. Many tend to like accessible books that speak to them in plain English. And this book is marketed as such. This is supposed to be an extra aid, on top of a regular textbook, to make Calculus more accessible. However, it stands on its own, thanks to its comprehensiveness and clarity. If commonly adopted Calculus books puzzle you, or if you are studying on your own, this is the book for you. Every step is clearly explained and it doesn't fail when it comes to covering all the pre-requisites/fundamentals. Thanks to its style and approach, pretty much anyone who's willing to learn, will. I'd even recommend it to high school students who wish to learn more about this subject, because I don't think they would have any trouble following along. The tone is informal, friendly and often even funny, making it one of the least boring math books I've ever read. I highly recommend it to those who are struggling and would like to really understand the subject.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Title says it all.
Comment: I am currently in Calculus 2 and have bought and been through countless other supplemental texts on calculus. The most helpful ones that I have gone through are The Calculus Lifesaver (it really is a lifesaver with clear cut text and specific examples and stratgies to accomplish all of your goals), The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems (another wonderful book full of examples and very specific guidance to give you a real idea and way to go about the problem even if you aren't a real math person), and REA Problem Solvers Calculus (a text full of problems and worked out examples). I have tried other books incluting The Calculus Tutoring Book, and the gambit of Schaum books and none of these helped much (unless you already know the math they are talking about). However the three books I have described before (calc. lifesaver, etc.) are the very best I have seen yet and I expect to be getting A's in my Calc. class in very short order.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mathmaster
Comment: An outstanding job by the author in explaining the complex subject of Calculus in a simple step by step manner. The narration and graphic detail is impressive. Students of the subject need this book as a supplement to any course textbook because it does a much better job of explaining everything in detail. Many Calculus textbooks are notorious for leaving out details thus leaving many students confused and frustrated. This book is really a gem and deserves the best rating available - five stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Extraordinarily Comprehensive and Clear
Comment: This books over-takes any other Calculus book by leaps and bounds. I took neither a Pre-Calculus nor AP-Calculus course, yet I found myself easily understanding everything. The tone of the book is playful, yet at the same time informative. The book after all is there to teach you about Calculus, NOT random tidbits of entertaining information. Of course there are some chapters that require one or two reviews but that is fairly expected since after all, it's Calculus!
In addition, this book has 48 hours worth of video-lectures, corresponding to actual chapters, to watch. I mean, where else could you get that?
I guess the greatest compliment I could pay this book would be to say that my once irrational fear and distaste for anything to do with functions, has slowly been replaced by a feeling of friendly acquaintance, and that my initial intimidation by the very word "Calculus", has been overcome by a sense of puzzlement at my previous unfounded apprehension.
As you can probably tell, I can't recommend this book strongly enough. If you have no idea what Calculus is except for the fact that it would be cool to Master, this is definitely the book for you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a Very Good and Interesting Book
Comment: I purchased The Calculus Lifesaver book written by Adrian Banner when I discovered that my knowledge of Calculus was beginning to get a bit rusty and I wanted to clear up some of the mathematical cob webs in my head.
I read Mr. Banner's book cover to cover in a little less than 4 weeks. The book has 30 chapters consisting of 702 pages and has 46 pages of appendices.
Although the book illustrates each mathematical subject area with a great many solved problems, it does not contain any problem sets that are specifically intended for the reader to solve. This could be a draw back for some and it probably prevents this book from being used as a class room text, but for my purposes it worked well.
Mr. Banner gives an in depth treatment of all the standard stuff like limits, differentiation, integration, Taylor and MacLaurin series, and he gives an overview of topics such as parametric equations, complex numbers, arc lengths, surface areas, and volumes and differential equations.
All in all I feel that this book was well written, easy to read, and interesting. Mr. Banner's approach is quite different from the classical, almost stuff shirt approach that was typical of the math books that I used way back in my under grad days. He does interject some colorful language from time to time which initially surprised me, and then later on amused me, and always kept me interested.
This is an excellent book for those students looking for a second source to review for an up coming midterm exam. Treatment of specific subject areas is clear, concise and can be read and understood in short order.
This is an excellent book for people like my self who need to quickly come back up to speed on subjects that may have become a bit clouded over the years.
This also is an excellent book for people who are learning Calculus for the first time. If you are in the process of learning Calculus the key to really understanding the subject is to work countless problems until the mechanics, concepts, and procedures are firmly ingrained in your mind. For these people I strongly recommend a companion text called "The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems" by W. Michael Kelly. A serious student could learn the concepts and procedures from Mr. Banner's book and then work many of the one thousand problems provided in Mr. Kelly's book to gain proficiency.
After having read Mr. Banner's book, would I purchase this book again? The answer is a definite yes. The money was well spent.
I am anxiously awaiting to see some follow on books from Mr. Banner treating the subjects of Differential Equations and Complex Variables.
Summary: A great easy-going introduction to the subject
Comment: Before I even start talking about the actual book, let me just tell you that this is a steal. I don't know what the publisher was thinking, but a 750 page, recently published book on Calculus never sells for such a low price. On Amazon it sells for $16, which is a ridiculously low price for this 5 star tome. The average Calculus book is far from cheap, so this excellent guide is a pure bargain. Now, let's talk about the content of the book.
I'm very exigent when it comes to Calculus books and usually like a very formal and rigorous style. Most people don't. Many tend to like accessible books that speak to them in plain English. And this book is marketed as such. This is supposed to be an extra aid, on top of a regular textbook, to make Calculus more accessible. However, it stands on its own, thanks to its comprehensiveness and clarity. If commonly adopted Calculus books puzzle you, or if you are studying on your own, this is the book for you. Every step is clearly explained and it doesn't fail when it comes to covering all the pre-requisites/fundamentals. Thanks to its style and approach, pretty much anyone who's willing to learn, will. I'd even recommend it to high school students who wish to learn more about this subject, because I don't think they would have any trouble following along. The tone is informal, friendly and often even funny, making it one of the least boring math books I've ever read. I highly recommend it to those who are struggling and would like to really understand the subject.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Title says it all.
Comment: I am currently in Calculus 2 and have bought and been through countless other supplemental texts on calculus. The most helpful ones that I have gone through are The Calculus Lifesaver (it really is a lifesaver with clear cut text and specific examples and stratgies to accomplish all of your goals), The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems (another wonderful book full of examples and very specific guidance to give you a real idea and way to go about the problem even if you aren't a real math person), and REA Problem Solvers Calculus (a text full of problems and worked out examples). I have tried other books incluting The Calculus Tutoring Book, and the gambit of Schaum books and none of these helped much (unless you already know the math they are talking about). However the three books I have described before (calc. lifesaver, etc.) are the very best I have seen yet and I expect to be getting A's in my Calc. class in very short order.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mathmaster
Comment: An outstanding job by the author in explaining the complex subject of Calculus in a simple step by step manner. The narration and graphic detail is impressive. Students of the subject need this book as a supplement to any course textbook because it does a much better job of explaining everything in detail. Many Calculus textbooks are notorious for leaving out details thus leaving many students confused and frustrated. This book is really a gem and deserves the best rating available - five stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Extraordinarily Comprehensive and Clear
Comment: This books over-takes any other Calculus book by leaps and bounds. I took neither a Pre-Calculus nor AP-Calculus course, yet I found myself easily understanding everything. The tone of the book is playful, yet at the same time informative. The book after all is there to teach you about Calculus, NOT random tidbits of entertaining information. Of course there are some chapters that require one or two reviews but that is fairly expected since after all, it's Calculus!
In addition, this book has 48 hours worth of video-lectures, corresponding to actual chapters, to watch. I mean, where else could you get that?
I guess the greatest compliment I could pay this book would be to say that my once irrational fear and distaste for anything to do with functions, has slowly been replaced by a feeling of friendly acquaintance, and that my initial intimidation by the very word "Calculus", has been overcome by a sense of puzzlement at my previous unfounded apprehension.
As you can probably tell, I can't recommend this book strongly enough. If you have no idea what Calculus is except for the fact that it would be cool to Master, this is definitely the book for you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a Very Good and Interesting Book
Comment: I purchased The Calculus Lifesaver book written by Adrian Banner when I discovered that my knowledge of Calculus was beginning to get a bit rusty and I wanted to clear up some of the mathematical cob webs in my head.
I read Mr. Banner's book cover to cover in a little less than 4 weeks. The book has 30 chapters consisting of 702 pages and has 46 pages of appendices.
Although the book illustrates each mathematical subject area with a great many solved problems, it does not contain any problem sets that are specifically intended for the reader to solve. This could be a draw back for some and it probably prevents this book from being used as a class room text, but for my purposes it worked well.
Mr. Banner gives an in depth treatment of all the standard stuff like limits, differentiation, integration, Taylor and MacLaurin series, and he gives an overview of topics such as parametric equations, complex numbers, arc lengths, surface areas, and volumes and differential equations.
All in all I feel that this book was well written, easy to read, and interesting. Mr. Banner's approach is quite different from the classical, almost stuff shirt approach that was typical of the math books that I used way back in my under grad days. He does interject some colorful language from time to time which initially surprised me, and then later on amused me, and always kept me interested.
This is an excellent book for those students looking for a second source to review for an up coming midterm exam. Treatment of specific subject areas is clear, concise and can be read and understood in short order.
This is an excellent book for people like my self who need to quickly come back up to speed on subjects that may have become a bit clouded over the years.
This also is an excellent book for people who are learning Calculus for the first time. If you are in the process of learning Calculus the key to really understanding the subject is to work countless problems until the mechanics, concepts, and procedures are firmly ingrained in your mind. For these people I strongly recommend a companion text called "The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems" by W. Michael Kelly. A serious student could learn the concepts and procedures from Mr. Banner's book and then work many of the one thousand problems provided in Mr. Kelly's book to gain proficiency.
After having read Mr. Banner's book, would I purchase this book again? The answer is a definite yes. The money was well spent.
I am anxiously awaiting to see some follow on books from Mr. Banner treating the subjects of Differential Equations and Complex Variables.
The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus (Princeton Lifesaver Study Guides) Reviews: Page 2 of 3
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