Reader reviews

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

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. The chapters on game development are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

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

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

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

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Not for me. The pacing did not work and I struggled to finish it.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Two stars. The subject deserves a better treatment than this.

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

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

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

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 index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.