Axler is pathological in his avoidance of determinants. I've heard (third hand) that he once pulled aside some fields medalist into a classroom after a talk and asked them "Do you like determinants?" I imagine him drawing the curtains and sweeping for bugs first.

I attended a (remote) seminar where he was talking about this book, and this seems more or less accurate. Mathematicians are a weird lot.

The response that he received in the story was "I feel about them the same way I feel about tomatoes. I like to eat them, but other than that, no, I don't like them."