The book arrived as promised using expedited shipping. However, the heavy text book was placed in a box twice the size of the book with a piece of bubble packing material. The weight of the book popped the packing material and it bounced off the sides of the box unprotected as it was shipped around the country. The book arrived with bent corners and a creased spine. Not much chance that I'll get a great resale price for it. Thanks a lot Amazon. Good work.

This is a great book for people who already have a firm grasp on the understanding of mathematics. The problem sets show you various scenarios that allow you to use your newly found skills flexibly.

As another reviewer said, the learning curve for those coming out of pre-calculus is too steep. The sample problems presented in this book are not explained clearly, and the problem sets are useless when it comes to creating an exam.

As another reviewer said, the learning curve for those coming out of pre-calculus is too steep. The sample problems presented in this book are not explained clearly, and the problem sets are useless when it comes to creating an exam.

The textbook shipped quickly, and arrived in excellent shape. It has tons of sample and exercise problems to sharpen your calc skills.

This book is written for those intending to move onwards in math, rather than those who are learning calculus for practical purposes. In general, the book is not user-friendly and at times throws in "points of interest" about math and calculus that are not labeled well, and can thus confuse/ distract the reader. The book does not contextualize what it attempts to teach and as a result, forces the reader to skim a chapter to understand the general thrust and conclusion, before attempting a detailed reading. I do not know of better calculus books, but for one inclined to search, this is not the one at which to stop.

I am a college Calculus instructor, and I find this book terrible for many reasons. For students looking for a solid but much more inviting introduction to Calculus, I highly recommend Larson's book over Stewart's.

Here is a point-by-point breakdown of the faults I find in Stewart's text:

Clarity of Explanation and Content Level

Stewart's explanations are often verbose, unclear, and written at a
level too high for the average Calculus student. Several of my students
have told me reading the book only confused them and did not
clarify the concepts. An introductory text should offer simpler, clearer, and more concise explanations more appropriate to the typical Calculus student.

Presentation

In this day and age, students expect visually engaging presentations that will hold their attention. Stewart's presentations are drab and uninteresting. His book is everywhere packed with dense plain text and
formulas, giving the impression that Calculus is hard, dull, and very
complex, further intimidating students who are already scared of the
subject. Students are much more likely to carefully read a text that is
visually appealing and makes Calculus seem interesting and less
intimidating. This will also help reduce their anxiety over what many
already consider a very difficult course.


Readability

Another important aspect of presentation is layout and readability. Here
Stewart's text is again dismal: His pages are overstuffed with text and
graphics throughout the book, making it difficult to reference a
theorem, particular type of example, etc. It is hard to see where one
example or proof ends and another begins. The average student is not
going to read the entire contents of a section in full detail, but will
rather reference the topics s/he is having trouble with, in order to get
the details on a theorem or to find an example problem to help with a
homework exercise. This is very difficult to do in Stewart's text due to
the crowded and confusing layout.

Homework Exercises

Stewart's text is again particularly poor in terms of his homework sets in that he tends to offer a few low-level problems and then suddenly jump into extraordinarily difficult problems with no warning or transition. Stewart also tends to couch exceedingly difficult problems between a series of relatively straightforward ones, again without warning, which is very frustrating for students who find themselves struggling over what they think is an easy problem.

All in all, I strongly advise against this text, and would urge other Calculus instructors and mathematics departments to choose another Calculus book for their classes.

I got this in panic through overnight shipping, it was at my door at 10 the following morning. Perfect condition.

It's a very good book which I really enjoy reading it. It's easy to understand and some examples are very specific to comprehend the problem.

I ordered this book a month before classes started but it didn't arrive until about 2 weeks after classes started. If you are looking to get it order it early.
Other than that is in perfect condition and I am not having any issues with it.