For ten editions, readers have turned to Salas to learn the difficult concepts of calculus without sacrificing rigor. The book consistently provides clear calculus content to help them master these concepts and understand its relevance to the real world. Throughout the pages, it offers a perfect balance of theory and applications to elevate their mathematical insights. Readers will also find that the book emphasizes both problem-solving skills and real-world applications.
This is a very thorough, comprehensive textbook from Calculus, for beginning Calculus I through what most programs would consider Calculus III. It is well-organized, moving progressively through the subject, and there are an abundance of exercises for the student at the end of each section to practice and test the student's knowledge.
I suspect that if someone thoroughly grounded in the necessary prerequisites very carefully and painstakingly went through this book sentence by sentence, equation by equation, spending as much time as it took to carefully parse each piece before moving on to the next piece, and working every single problem until he or she was certain that they had correctly solved the problem and knew how and why that solution worked, it might be possible for them to learn the material solely from this book. But it might take 10 years or more of at least 3 or 4 solid hours a day, five days a week, to do so. If one tries to attack it any less diligently than that, a student not already familiar with the material and fluent in the symbology and language of higher level math will soon find him or herself thoroughly lost; this book is far from user-friendly.
It accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish quite well, so I'll give it four stars; I'll reserve the fifth star for a book that can do it in language that is more accessible.