Customer Reviews

Calculus and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book served to demistify the entire basics of the calculus for me. Without it, I'd still be wondering about the derivative, or about limits or integrals. On the other hand, it contains about 5% of the stuff in a real calc book, which is why I'm glad I've got both. Even today I refer back to this when the definitions Swokowski gives me are too obscure to understand.

If you have trouble understanding calculus, buy this, not a copy of Schaum's outlines. This will open you up to fundamental concepts, and once you have those down, reading any normal calculus text will be a breeze.

The book is also very poetic. Pickover is a great writer, besides being a great mathematician.

This is a great book on many levels. The basics of Calculus are clearly communicated. There are lots of interesting examples, and problems to solve. The story of the pizza parlor involves great imagery, and fascinating characters. Plus the chapters are short, which helps retention. I bought the book as a review tool. A lot of calculus help books are geared to just doing well on tests. Completing this book should help anyone to get a real, "feel", for the beauty and usefulness of Calculus.

Calculus is very important today in many branches of science, economics, and other fields. I am a high school calculus teacher and will be advising all my students to get this book in the fall. It covers all the essential calculus material in a fun way, using pizza examples. Where else would you find a pizza chef teaching calculus? In what other books will you study meatballs rolling down Fifth Avenue? College teachers will also find this book useful, but you don't have to be in school to enjoy this book. My friends find this book useful for a review of calculus. The book contains lots of problems and answers to see if readers truly understand the material.

The simultaneous discovery of calculus by Newton and Leibniz makes the author wonder why so many discoveries in science are made at the same time by people working independently. I wonder about this too.

I have no doubt that this book will come in handy for college level "calc" students looking for a refresher, but DO NOT confuse this as a "Calculus for Dummies" approach to the subject. From the first couple of pages I felt as though I had been thrown in the deep end of the pool in order to learn how to swim. I was anticipating a more accessible book and I was disappointed. The examples of tomato sauce mold, rocket launched meatballs and giant pepperoni (don't ask) didn't serve to ground calculus in the real world for me. Again, maybe a terrific text for people that already have a grounding in the subject, but hardly as comforting as the title would lead you to believe.

I can only say that this was the most educational math book I have read, and I liked it for all the reasons the author gives: (1) Many beginner calculus books are too big. Most people don't read big books. However, this book is a comfortable size. (2) Many "popular" calculus books don't have exercises. The basic philosophy of Calculus and Pizza is learning by doing. (3) Most importantly, no Intro calculus books have a pizza chef teaching you. For example, in what other book will you find meatballs rolling down Fifth Avenue in New York City or pizza restaurants overrun by bacterial colonies run wild?

The other big selling point for this book are the numerous solved problems. These problems alone give the book a lot of "meat" -- if you pardon the pun.

one word this book is: Enthusiasm

This book is the simple solution to every young student avoiding complications in calculus later in life. I was given this book early on during basic algebra (which I wasn't great at). When I finished reading this book I didn't claim to know calculus: I skimmed the first couple chapters over and over. But, I had an idea of what people meant when they said "Calculus."
America's public educational systems lack the rigor that is required by its universities and colleges because students are not getting "very basic" ideas early on. This book is a definitive solution. Reading parts of this book in 9th or 10th grade can give students time to let the fundamental simplicity of calculus percolate, something that cannot be rushed in a semester.
Students don't need trigonometry, or advanced algebra. They need insight early on. If you're searching for a calculus book because you're having trouble with it now, do your younger friends a favor and recommend this book. It could mean the difference between success and failure when they transition from Precalculus to calculus. This book should be treated the same way astronomy and science survey books are written to inspire interest in young people. Move over earth, life, and health sciences and make some room for Calculus and Pizza--food for the hungry mind.

I truly enjoyed this book as a way to review the strong points of Calculus. This book Does Not TEACH you Calculus but helps those who have taken it and want to refresh, review or rethink how certain things were done.
My students in BC calculus are reading it out loud in class and they find the fun quirky anecdotes refreshing as it strengthens their knowledge. I highly recommend it if you have already taken Calculus or as a book to read after you learn each topic in Calculus but not before.

Given the underlying mathematical rigor of differential and integral calculus, no popular book can ever truly explain it. However, it is possible to demonstrate a great deal of the foundations of calculus in a manner that can be understood by people with limited math backgrounds. A person with a solid understanding of college algebra will be able to understand nearly all of the formulas and concepts in this book, although the exponential and logarithmic functions may be too much.
As the title implies, the setting is that of a pizza parlor and the calculus problems often contain references to pizza terms. Phrases such as "the pepperoni is 10 feet from the lamp", "the meatball is growing at the rate of" and "the rolling meatball is accelerating at the rate of" keep the focus on pizza while calculus is being taught. There are problems at the end of each chapter and complete solutions are included in a final chapter.
This is a book that can give you the basic ideas of calculus or refresh your understanding if it has been some time since you learned it. The writing is excellent, the problems are well stated and entertaining and diagrams included when needed. It can serve as a review for a calculus exam but cannot prepare you for it.

The lively style does not make up for non-innovative substance on the topics dealt with. It is not Pickover's best book.

This book is good for anyone looking to learn calculus. It starts out with derivatives, and explains them in an easy to understand manner. The whole book uses a neat little pizza metaphor, which helps the reader grasp the concept, and the examples are well explained and informative. Overall, the book is fun and educational, and I definitely recommend it.