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Book Review, © Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
I have the grade A, expanded, intergalactic version (!) of this book. You should be so lucky. This is a cartoon book to teach you about calculus. The cartoon characters are Prof. E. McSquared, R. D. (a duck), Piggy, Theta, Omega, Good Vibes, Grover Q. Function, Alfred Function, Sigma Fraud, Zeta, Widget, Duckleen, Hammy, Admiral Ethalyne from Sirius, Major Jaeger, Epsilon, Horatio, "Brand" X (little is known about him), Stanislaw Lim (related to the Function brothers), and unfortunately Malicious Melvin, and more (casting by Plaster of Paris).
I recommend this book, highly. The approach is different from other books on calculus, because some of the characters are actually having difficulty with calculus. They ask difficult questions, and Prof. McSquared sometimes has to struggle with the answers. And there is plenty of humor here.
The book has three chapters (I. Functions, II. Limits, and III Derivatives), several sub-chapters, and an Intergalactic Epilogue.
As an example of how good this book is, its section on epsilon-delta proofs (concerning limits) is absolutely inspired. Before I read this section, I neither understood epsilon-delta, nor did I know why anybody cared. Now, it makes sense.
Also see McSquared's Home Page.
For other books on calculus, which look good (I have not studied them), see the list below. There are also numerous books on precalculus.
To order any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the name of the book below (goes directly to that book):