On the importance of the textbook....

Hey Thomas, this is ******* and I have your class this Friday. I was just wondering about something because I don't have my book yet but i should have it by next week will that cause any problems with tomorrow class?

Well...no, yes, and maybe.  No, I'm not going to police if you have the textbook or not, it's your textbook and you can do how, where and what you want with it.   Yes, your first homework assignment opens tomorrow, is due the following Friday, and you will be working at a disadvantage relative to your classmates until you have access to the textbook--you might make friends with someone who does have the textbook.  Maybe--it depends a lot on you and your basic level of preparedness to aggressively pursue other resources available to you, for example on the internet.

There are many calculus resources available to you on the web, if you aren't yet aware of the Khan academy lectures on calculus you should check it out; many people find it a useful supplemental tool and it's free.

But let me take this opportunity to discuss outcomes with everybody.  Meditate on the image below.  If you've ever taken a night drive in the desert you can guess the outcome.  This calculus class is very much like that truck.  I guarantee that you are not faster or tougher than that truck.  That truck does not care how cool you are, or how good looking or how smart or how sneaky or how deserving you are.  After that truck there is another one.  The only way for you to survive this course is to take decisive action early and as often as necessary.  Otherwise I'll be feeling bad for you when I come to assigning grades at the end of the semester.