If the calender you are using is the one shipped within the OS then your right, you will only be able to see todays appointments - and that is limiting!
Unless you go for Pocket Informant (which for me is the best piece of software I have bought, but does cost about $35 inclusing the today plug in), you could try Calender+ which is free. I've posted the links below
Pocket Informant
PI Today Plug In
Calendar+
If you do go for Pocket Informant its at version 4.6.1 at the moment, but they say they are releasing version 5 this month, so you might want to wait although I think they will upgrade for free if you bought it within a few months of the new release - just something worth checking.