This book taught me how to do all the math I would have learned between grades 6 and 9 if I paid any attention in school instead of, I dunno, compulsively masturbating. This was the text for my Math 87 class, and since I rarely actually go to school, I basically taught myself everything from this book. And I'm getting an A right now, so I guess it's a pretty good book. However, there are a lot of unnecessary section divisions (for instance, adding and subtracting will be covered seperately from multiplying and dividing for pretty much any new subject -- exponents, binomials, whatever.) And I think I saw the same picture of the author on a treadmill twice. Lame. Still, my precalculus text has a lot to live up to!