Review by Booklist Review
Many who've faithfully followed Gonick through universal, modern, and U.S. history; such vital current concerns as the environment, the computer, and communication; everybody's perennial hot topic, sex; and even such can-be-arcane matters as genetics, chemistry, physics, and statistics just may balk at his latest graphic vade mecum (OK, probably not if they got the statistics volume). Calculus reliably humbles high IQs, as it doubtlessly will again, despite the shenanigans of Gonick's cartoon self-portrayal (as a comic Einstein knockoff) and his partner in demonstration, sassy, tool-belted coed Delta Wye (yes, that's a math pun). But if your algebra is well developed (so the omnipresent equations don't fluster you), and the easy part you grasp that calculus is the mathematical means of studying change, and you relish tackling the problems at the end of each chapter, then this is a nifty primer indeed. All the basics functions, limits, derivatives, integration are essentially covered, and things beginners don't need to know are noted. Inducing confidence is the fact that Gonick has taught calculus at Harvard, even.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Make no mistake: this is a calculus text, albeit one less intimidating and more entertaining than most. It is aimed at a one-semester course or the first section of a full year-long class. It is written as math educators once taught calculus 25 years ago, ignoring the now ready availability of graphing calculators and computer software that help students with their work. Veteran science and history cartoonist Gonick (The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry) is a good writer and a talented illustrator. As a result, the book reads the way a good teacher lectures; while presenting material, he includes humorous asides to break the tedious succession of theorem, proof, example. What Gonick's book lacks is a large selection of worked-through examples and exercises that usually form the heart of a modern calculus text. For that reason alone, it is unlikely to be adopted by many classes. Verdict A well-written book that may find a niche audience among readers and students turned off by traditional calculus texts.-Harold D. Shane, Emeritus, Baruch Coll., CUNY (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Muse cartoonist Gonick's (The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part 2, 2009, etc.) presentation is labored, the cartoons are primarily decorative and the course is tough. To begin with, calculus requires four years of high-school math, which the author reprises in the first 50 pages. For many readers this will be a slog through algebra, trigonometry, exponentials, function theory, etc. While most texts map equations onto lines or curves on a standard x-y axis, Gonick introduces parallel lines with arrows connecting an x value on one line to its f(x) value on the parallel line. This approach is particularly unhelpful when you want to visualize, say, minute changes of position (on the y axis) over time (on the x axis). Nor does the author discuss fundamental concepts like continuity or maxima and minima until well into the chapters on the derivative and differential calculus. While he does highlight fundamental theorems and classic rules, Gonick devotes too much space to how-to manipulations like how to differentiate inverse functions. The narrative improves when the author introduces the concept of the integral as the sum of skinny rectangles under a curve, and Gonick provides many helpful, practical examples of how calculus is used. This is no idiot's guide to math, but it could be useful as a supplement to a standard course in calculus.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
