Dummies is very good for ppl with no scientific background
ie. No college math

Yet again I have skimmed through the thread through ignorance not lack of time to be honest but I will add this at the risk of looking a fool having not properly read the above posts.

I have 11 G.C.S.E.'s (6 years) 4 A-Levels (3 years) and an Honours Degree in Combined Engineering which took me four years to complete. I studied subjects such as fluid mechanics, turbomachinery and others all of which involve high order differential equations and rapidly changing states of matter, including super sonic flows and boundary layers which concern airflow over aerodynamic objects - plane wings for example.

I got through all of it without properly understanding Calculus. Seriously. I graduated 9 years ago and some of my lecturers were/are top experts in their field. One is an advisory to Formula One racing whom himself authored one of the books recommended on the course, another in the electrical fields is from China and is on something called the power generation or distribution advisory board in Beijing. We used to call him Dr. Evil because although he was a lovely old common sense orientated Good Old Chinese wise and very compassionate man (so many of the old china generation really are great people) he had a James Bond film baddie kind of voice and manner.

The University I studied at is one of the top Engineering Universities in the world and they are heavily involved with Marconi and several major car manufacturers.

Having said all that 2 years ago I read this:

The Complete Idiot's Guide To Calculus - authored by W Michael Kelley.

I understood absolutely all of it and it was really a wonderful read and presented the subject of Calculus to me in a way I could perfectly understand and left me feeling thrilled I was making real progress. I reckon or I dare to reckon I could teach almost anyone Calculus with the aid of this book. It was not dumbed down either, the latter topics were very in depth, further than I ever got during my formal education and no doubt this book will come in very useful at some point in the future. Sometime last year I wrecked a load of textbooks in an appalling rage some of which were £30+ brand new never opened. I still didn't have the heart to trash this book even in the most foul of tempers, I'd bonded with it that much.

The lesson? Don't ever underestimate how good some of these books are, and don't ever pigeon hole yourself as not being good enough just because you don't have a major degree behind you. Alot of people I'm sure could do so much more than they presently do if they just changed their attitude and gave themselves a chance to learn. That may or may not apply to you the OP.

I hope that's useful?

The lesson? Don't ever underestimate how good some of these books are, and don't ever pigeon hole yourself as not being good enough just because you don't have a major degree behind you. Alot of people I'm sure could do so much more than they presently do if they just changed their attitude and gave themselves a chance to learn. That may or may not apply to you the OP.
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Too true, especially in engineering. I've met undergraduates at my university who dont know the basics like the value sin(pi/4) \. It saddens me that these people are the one's at a better chance at a job, not because they are worthy, but because they have right diplomas and the right hookup.