I'm not even finished with this book but I find it revolutionary in terms of understanding Mathematics. I wish my math teachers would teach Calculus this way, and I wish every school assigned this book as a textbook. The title really speaks for itself, as someone who doesn't have a strong math background knowledge and is scared to take calculus next semester, no need to fear! Although calculus is still hard, this book makes it at a moderate level and includes practice examples.

1910 calculus book that is freely available online. I wish I had this in school.

This was an interesting and probably very unusual first textbook introduction to calculus. Probably, it could be described as 'engineer focused', because of the hand-waving of proof and emphasis on applications in a big chunk of the problems. It is deceptively easy going at first, but later does not feels as Calculus made 'too easy'. Overall, I enjoyed it (but it took me like forever to finish as a result on my pigheaded attitude of trying to do all the exercises included).

This must be the third or fourth time I've read this book. The first was on the recommendation of Martin Gardner in Scientific American. Once I got to my high school calculus class, I was considered a genius in the subject (admittedly, I was a math geek). Little did people know that I had just cheated by reading the irreverent and subversive teachings of Silvanus P. Thompson. This text makes calculus seem so easy and it still does so after every reading. It really is so much easier to follow Thompson's style than pretty much every newer textbook or online course I've seen. This time, I needed to know only about partial derivatives but I devoured the whole book anyway. It is mostly timeless, and where it's not, this 4th Edition by Gardner himself explains and fixes the differences in language and style. You can safely skip Gardner's initial chapters unless you need a refresher on functions and limits.

NB: for those complaining about the formatting in the Kindle version, it's fine if you buy the official eTextbook version from St. Martin's Press and Macmillan. I found it at ASIN B00I1VX8FE.

Coming back to calculus after 20 years, having forgotten everything short of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division was daunting.

My first port of call was Spivak, which sent me into an meta-crisis in the first chapter itself. CME was a breath of fresh air.

Strongly recommended for adult learners, and enthu 12 year olds!

I love this book, would I say it's the best introduction to calculus? depends on the reader.
I wouldn't say this book is too bad but in my opinion.... it needs more.

I am not sure if this is the same edition as the one I have (3rd ed., paperback). No matter - this book is a work of art. From the first chapter - "To Deliver You from the Preliminary Terrors" for those who wish they could have stuck it out back in high school "if only", to the second chapter - "On Different Degrees of Smallness" for those who may be math whizzes but would like to revisit the foundations of calculus in a new light (perhaps to teach it to someone else), to the many subsequent chapters on what calculus is really all about, how it is useful, and how to actually do the calculations... there is just something for everyone with a curiosity about calculus.

This old ass calculus book has confirmed my suspicions that the lack of mathematical (and STEM in general) competency and interest in the US can be blamed FULLY on the education system. Mathematics up through basic calculus is NOT overly difficult. You just have pretentious people in charge of disseminating mathematical knowledge and those people do an excellent job of sucking the soul right out of such a beautiful art form. Also, they overcomplicate the shit out of what should be very simply understood concepts. Yeah I’m worked up about it, leave me alone

The best explanations of differentiation/integration concepts I've ever encountered. A lot of examples of calculations and practice tasks.
Also it was interesting to read a book written around ~191o.

Not my favorite.

Calculus is by far my most favorite math subjects. Thompsons has done a great deed to the world for publishing this book. You can see that my view differs from the majority and that is what math is all about. IN MY OPINION this book is convoluted and far too overcomplicated. Thompson worries much more about the equation than the understanding or visual which is in my opinion the most important aspect of math.

This book could very well be your new bible for calculus and that is terrific. From my view and my opinion it is not for me. Give it a try and see what you think.
DS

The best calculus textbook ever made.

i don’t think i could do an actual calculus problem after this but the wording and explanations make me believe i could get there