I received the books very quickly. They were in great condition. I want to thank them for everything.

This new edition has more exercises and, in general, better layout. BUT, it is poorly written. Kellison could have reviewed his methods to explain certain points which are a bit superficial or backed only with mathematics. Even though it has many references to real situations, they are far from being clear or helpful.
In conclusion, it is a book for quick reference abount basic financial mathematics and to prepare an exam (SOA Exam FM in particular). Not more. My four starts are supported by that: if you buy this book, you should buy it ONLY to study for exam FM.

Because Kellison offers a very good treatment in many respects, I am a little sad that I must emphatically recommend that you consider getting something else.

The problems with the book are internal and fundamental. The general reader might not notice them, but the mathematical reader will, and both readers will ultimately suffer. There are assumptions never explicitly made. There are derivations that are stuffy and unnecessary. There is wordiness that must be waded through, only to arrive at a point that can be made simply and clearly.

It's part of the job of a book on financial mathematics to show the student all of the financial jargon you encounter, and correlate it with the rock-hard, numbers-do-not-lie level of equations. Kellison's approach is mixed---he's pleasantly on target *some* of the time, but other times he is as guilty the sneaky salesmen we all know and love.

There's considerable room for improvement.

A number of aspiring actuaries who attempt to pass the second exam (Exam FM: Financial Math) attempt to side step the reading of this over priced textbook and substitute it with study aides and other cram books. I would recommend that they refrain from doing so as this text is lucid, the exercises are quite comprehensive, and above all, the occasional examples are rather identical to the problems one can anticipate on the test. I took Exam FM recently and this is the only text i refered to, and i felt that my preparation was rather complete thanks to a reading of the syllabus material. The book flows like water, though chapter 4 (section 4.4) and chapter 5 might be a bit tedious to read because of the complication in the material presented, thankfully that second rarely contributes substantially to the test. in fact, after chapter 3, chapter 4 (sections 4.1-4.3), it is best to jump to chapter 5, 6, 7, and then 9. Once this study is complete, the material presented in section 4.4 and chapter 5 and sections 8.7, 8.8, 8.10 must be examined to maintain fluidity of the material.

the only reason i give the book 4 stars instead of 5 is due to its price which is rather high.