Ray-Tracing Pocket Book (Paperback)

Some sections were excellent and others felt like filler.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. 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. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

This is the third book I have read on graphics & design this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with graphics & design.

A useful guide. The examples assume a particular environment, but that is fixable.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.