This class was definitely not as tough as it may seem. Class is okay, but nonetheless useful and you should attend. If you don't attend class, you'll most likely miss hints on tests or concepts not gone over in the book. That being said, the book is pretty darn good. His lectures are brutal in the sense that you'll break your hand. I recommend not writing down every equation he writes and so follow along in the book since they'll be there. His exams are excellent in the fact that he allows you to bring your own equation sheet, thus, if you understand what's going on, you're going to put the relevant stuff on there. That's why class/homework is important. Doing homework though is optional as long as you understand how to go about it, I passed half of them in and still got an A. Test 1 had a tricky problem, but he graded leniently on it, curves nicely. Test 2 straight forwarded, but made easy to compensate for Test 1, had a problem you had to be in class to understand, but could guess. Final was straight forward as well.
*Key thing is structuring your equation sheet, if he continues this, you'll breeze by this class