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On a more elementary level, Michael Spivak's Calculus is an amazing book on first-year calculus. He also wrote Calculus on Manifolds and a 5-volume series on D

On a more elementary level, Michael Spivak's Calculus is an amazing book on first-year calculus. He also wrote Calculus on Manifolds and a 5-volume series on Differential Geometry. Those, to put it mildly, were rougher going. I actually once got a crush on a dorm-mate in large part because I saw Calculus on Manifolds on her bookshelf. It wasn't reciprocal, however. Later in life, she went on to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

ics 13y ago
> I actually once got a crush on a dorm-mate in large part because I saw Calculus on Manifolds on her bookshelf. It wasn't reciprocal, however. Later in life, she went on to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I had someone I'd never met before see my copy which happened to be the international edition (in Chinese, with English in the back) and then assume I spoke fluent Mandarin. Your story's a lot better :)
- CurtMonash 13y ago
  I lived 3 years in a Harvard grad school dormitory. One meets a variety of interesting people in such a place. E.g., I once pitched a foreign policy maven dorm-mate on caring more about Africa ... and it was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Dobriansky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Dobriansky, who 25 years later had a very major role in combating AIDS. But http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pipes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pipes was a jerk who couldn't stomach losing to a math student at Scrabble. :)
tgb 13y ago
Yeah Hubbard & Hubbard that I recommended is a more approachable take on Calculus on Manifolds (which it is based on or inspired by). It's still not simple, but it's probably a bit easier-going for the modern student than Spivak.
mrcactu5 13y ago
I remember being disappointed with Calculus on Manifolds, since it was very abstract. I was looking for something with more explicit calculations. To this end, I was quite happy with Edwards "Advanced Calculus" http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-David-V-Widder/dp/0486661032 http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-David-V-Widder/dp/04... http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-Several-Variables-Mathematics/dp/0486683362 http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-Several-Variables-Ma...

ics 13y ago

> I actually once got a crush on a dorm-mate in large part because I saw Calculus on Manifolds on her bookshelf. It wasn't reciprocal, however. Later in life, she went on to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I had someone I'd never met before see my copy which happened to be the international edition (in Chinese, with English in the back) and then assume I spoke fluent Mandarin. Your story's a lot better :)

CurtMonash 13y ago
I lived 3 years in a Harvard grad school dormitory. One meets a variety of interesting people in such a place. E.g., I once pitched a foreign policy maven dorm-mate on caring more about Africa ... and it was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Dobriansky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Dobriansky, who 25 years later had a very major role in combating AIDS. But http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pipes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pipes was a jerk who couldn't stomach losing to a math student at Scrabble. :)

tgb 13y ago

Yeah Hubbard & Hubbard that I recommended is a more approachable take on Calculus on Manifolds (which it is based on or inspired by). It's still not simple, but it's probably a bit easier-going for the modern student than Spivak.

mrcactu5 13y ago

I remember being disappointed with Calculus on Manifolds, since it was very abstract. I was looking for something with more explicit calculations. To this end, I was quite happy with Edwards "Advanced Calculus" http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-David-V-Widder/dp/0486661032 http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-David-V-Widder/dp/04... http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-Several-Variables-Mathematics/dp/0486683362 http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Calculus-Several-Variables-Ma...