I've had the 'pleasure' of experiencing numerous calculus texts over the years - starting in high school in 1987 and until now (mutlivariable calculus) and, as a math major, I'm sure I'll get to see a few more. I witnessed the growth in the use of graphing calculators and Computer Algebra Systems (CAS - MathCAD, Mathematica, Maple). Thomas' Calculus makes good use of CAS applications and even includes a CD with some 'good stuff'. But it left out all the historical text from the book, expecting the student to find it on the web. Personally, I enjoy reading about the development of mathematics in-line with the presented material and knocked off a star accordingly. The second star I took off was because the reference materials in the front and back of the book are not as helpful as they had been in other texts I've used.

I've used this text to teach myself calculus, basically reading the text cover-to-cover and doing about half the exercises. I've found it fairly easy going - the text is well written and contains enough worked examples that you can do most exercises without too much trouble. I would advise against spending money on the Student's Solution Manuals (Sharf/Weir) though - these do not contain enough detail to be of much help with the exercises that you get stuck with.

This book is the best calculus book I ever had in my possession. It is very detailed and it also gives you lots of examples. There are also a lot of problems that you can work on for practice followed by the odd answers at the back of the book. This book can take you from calculus I & II to Multivariable Calculus. I think that this book should be recommended to anyone taking calculus in college.

While an interesting beginning for a novice collector the author spans too great a time period to adequately cover any series of Winchester firearms. Winchester collectors are quite attracted to styles or types of firearms. This book barely answers even the most rudimentary of questions and as such is an overall disappointment. Secondly, the book would be greatly enhanced by more detailed and clear photography. This would assist the new collector in appreciating the marvel of these firearms - while providing a much better overview for future study.