Foundations of Graphics & Compute - Volume 3: Computing (Hardback)

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

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. 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.

This is the third book I have read on databases & big data this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

Worth every page. I have already recommended it to two colleagues.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with databases & big data.