Ray-Tracing Pocket Book (Paperback)

A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Excellent from start to finish. No filler, no padding.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

The clearest explanation of graphics & design I have come across.

This is the third book I have read on graphics & design this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.