101 Ray-Tracing, Ray-Marching and Path-Tracing Projects (Paperback)

Mixed feelings. The good parts are genuinely good; the rest is forgettable.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The chapters on programming are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Fine, but there are stronger books on the same subject if you look around.

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

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. 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. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. 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. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.