"Most college calculus texts weigh a ton; this one does not — it just gets to the point. This is how I learned calculus: my uncle gave me a copy." - John Baez (Mathematical Physicist; people here may know him from his work with/writing on Category Theory)
—that's how I originally came across this book (reading Baez's recommended math texts for various subjects).
There's kind of a funny story/legacy behind the book too: Thompson originally published the book under "F.R.S." disguising his actual identity, but letting his peers know it was written by one of their own—a Fellow of the Royal Society—in spite of his knowing that they'd disapprove of the book.
I'd read somewhere, too (maybe in Gardner's preface?), that it remains a 'secret favorite' of many mathematicians who wouldn't welcome the social consequences of admitting this.
—that's how I originally came across this book (reading Baez's recommended math texts for various subjects).
There's kind of a funny story/legacy behind the book too: Thompson originally published the book under "F.R.S." disguising his actual identity, but letting his peers know it was written by one of their own—a Fellow of the Royal Society—in spite of his knowing that they'd disapprove of the book.
I'd read somewhere, too (maybe in Gardner's preface?), that it remains a 'secret favorite' of many mathematicians who wouldn't welcome the social consequences of admitting this.