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ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
From the review collection
Reader review4 / 5
Solid and well-organised
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. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The chapters on introductory & beginning are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.
The clearest explanation of graphics & design I have come across.
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. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.
A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.
I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.
Three stars feels about right. Useful, but not essential.
I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. Borrow it first if you can, or at least check the table of contents carefully before buying.
A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.
There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The chapters on graphics & multimedia are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. 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. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.
Disappointing. The description oversold what is actually inside.
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 author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. I would look elsewhere unless you have a specific reason to need this particular title.
