[Kaizyn]

There's an author Morris Kline who wrote a number of fairly useful books on mathematics. Particularly worth mentioning are Mathematics for the Nonmathematician and Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach. The former traces through the history of mathematics and places each of the math discoveries in their proper context. The latter covers most of the topics covered in the first couple calculus classes. What makes Kline's approach valuable is how he grounds the abstract math topics in practical examples and in ways making them more accessible than your typical textbooks.