Reader reviews

Almost excellent. A second edition could easily push it to five stars.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I have been working with data visualization for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

Outstanding. I kept finding reasons to come back to it.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

This is the one to get if you are serious about game programming.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

Better than I expected. Rare to find a technical book this well judged.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Very good, with a few caveats. The core material is strong.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.