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

A superb guide. The examples are small but complete.

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 explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

Well worth picking up if you already have the basics.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. The chapters on programming are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

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

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. 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. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.