Graphics and Compute: Volume 5 Ray-Tracing (Hardback)

Genuinely excellent — I finished it in a week and immediately started again.

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 book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

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

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.