Reader reviews

Strong content, uneven pacing. I would still recommend it.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The chapters on databases & big data are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

Finally, a book that treats mathematics with the care it deserves.

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 balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

A superb guide. The examples are small but complete.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The chapters on javascript are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

An enjoyable and informative read, though it could have been shorter.

I have been working with graphics 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. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

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

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with 3d graphics.

Exactly the book I needed. Straight to the point and genuinely useful.

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 author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.