Rating: 
Summary: You can't go wrong!
Review: I can't believe LaMothe's book is only $35! It's huge, for sure, but it's not the size - it's the breadth and depth of his coverage of the subject and his gift for detailed clarity that is so impressive. I've been buying programming books since my first Fortran manual back in 1974 and have bought hundreds since then but this one has become one of my all time favorites. Trust me - I've bought some crap programming books in my time and wasted more money than most people ever spend in their lifetime on some that were tauted as being so wonderful but this ain't one of 'em.[Don't buy this book if you're not already a pretty good C and/or C++ programmer - you won't learn the language here]
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Summary: Don't even listen to haters!!!
Review: First of all, I would like to say that this book is probably the only thing that you'll be needing to learn 3D graphics/game programming.
And "Mr. LaMothe" is the greatest computer programming author that I know of. But heck, that's my opinion, right? The bottom line is that this book is not out of date, and you will only read it only if YOU want to read it. Therefor you will not listen to haters,
and if you think that this book is pretty cool, you'll give it a try. The first week when you buy the book, read it, do you like it? Keep it.
Did you not like it? Return the book back to the bookstore. From common sense every book store gives a satisfaction guarantee right? Note to haters: you're wasting web space and bandwidth =D
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Summary: Sam's needs errata page
Review: For 35 lousy bucks one gets an unbelievable amount of knowledge.
However, there are mistakes and they need to be documented. e.g
on the top of pg 548 he states that " tan(theta) = y/x, and in this case, y is the distance and x is related to the width." In fact, x is the distance and y is related to the width.
Tan(theta) = screen width/(2* view distance). d should = 320 in
his example on fig 6.32. No big deal, but for programming books, it's all about the details.
Rating:
Summary: It's a wonderful book in the world's game!
Review: I'm reading the book and it's very explicative, the author LaMothe give us details about mathematics and others subjects that we can learn with facility. He is a good teacher and in this book, I feel like a student in a class room.!!!
Thanks you Andre LaMothe for your great work, this book should be awarded !
P.S. I'm a beginner in game programming, and I was afraid about mathematics, but after this book, .... it's so happiness
Rating:
Summary: Brilliance
Review: This book changed the way I think about programming. For starters, I'm currently taking high school C++, and it is also my first year of programming. When I saw the sheer size of ths book, I was intimidated, yet also intrigued, since I do like computer games. I bought the book as sort of a challenge to myself; however, LaMothe's excellent writing style and demos allow me to easily navigate and compile full windows game engines. Bottom line: easily the best book purchase of my life.
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Summary: If one, this one !!
Review: They are not so many people who know deeply what they are talking about and definitely André LaMothe is one of them.
This book is well writen with all technical data needed in order to write a 3D engine.
The author presents all the necessary math but not more.
For me, this book is suitable for beginners to advanced programmers.
Also its price is really cheap comparatively to its size and mainly all the precious information contained in it.
If you want to understand how a 3D engine is built (for exeample DirectX) this book is actually the best for you.
Rating: 
Summary: A few comments
Review: I am only 400 pages into this large 1700 page book, and the pace and explanation level is good for someone familiar but not expert in game programming. I am particularly confounded by a few aspects, and these are just a few things and do not comprise a full review in and of itself. First, there is no errata sheet online or such. I have been told that they will update the book during new printings, but obviously this is not fast enough, as in 400 pages, I have already noticed on the order of 10-15 errors (if you do not count repeats mentioned below). I think instructive text authors should really take it upon themselves to follow through and list errors on an easily updatable format (i.e. webpage) especially when those errors can confuse learning readers. Second, I found it a little disturbing that a text that has a decent amount of detail on math topics doesn't seem to recognize that there is no such thing as a matrix determinate, that the correct term is "determinant." This may seem like a nitpick, but how many hundreds/thousands of readers do you think will read this and continue to propogate this complete mispelling and mispronunciation? It's not a typo either, as every single reference to this mathematical element is spelled 'determinate.' It just puts into question how rigorous a proofreading was performed by anyone writing or endorsing the text. I give it 4 stars because I am enjoying the book and I think (again, i have only read it partially) it will prove to be a very good read. However, these few details really glare at me as almost incredible flaws from a line of books I would have expected to have more professional polish. I am hoping anyone with any credits toward the book will take these comments to heart.
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Summary: if nothing else, get it for the optimization chapter
Review: i have about 100 books on programming in total, and most of them are on graphics and games because thats my favorite subject. however, none of them cover optimization in the REAL WORLD. andre's latest book actually DOES cover how to write super fast code using modern and relevant techniques and tools. examples include using the Intel Compiler, V-Tune (how many people ACTUALLY know how to use V-Tune? about 2% of the people who claim they do, from my experience), and even coverage of how to speed your code by 4x in some cases using the special SIMD instruction extensions. the whole book is a gem but the optimization stuff struck a nerve with me in particular, because i have been waiting so %*(#*% long for a book that ACTUALLY discusses it and isnt just a marketing ploy on the cover. thank you andre, i think you've restored my faith in game dev books. =)
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Summary: the best coverage of polygon rasterization I've ever seen...
Review: never before has a book covered the details of super-optimized polygon rasterization so thoroughly. I do directx dev at home on the pc and am working on a software 3d engine for the pocketpc at work, and this book has been a life saver on both fronts. in particular, the huge coverage on high-speed polygon drawing has been invaluable, and the more i read the faster i get. the author takes a step-by-step approach where you keep improving the code until finally its lightening fast. the beauty, though, is that youve seen every step along the way so you understand ALL of it. out of all the books on my shelf this is the first one that makes the WHOLE path from start to finish so clear. without this book my ppc engine wouldnt be half as fast as its shaping up to be now, and even my d3d stuff at home is improving due to the 3d engine structuring and organization skills this book is teaching me. no matter what you do, if you're into gfx programming, this is required reading.
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Summary: Magnum Opus
Review: Others have commented well upon this book and I agree with most of the reviews. Frankly, I was getting tired of the whole programming scene nowadays, which is simply calling a bunch of APIs to get your job done. Many of the "amazing" demos that you see on 3D graphics are written by people who know nothing about how most of the algorithms work. The real brainy work is done by a small bunch of guys (like the dudes who wrote DirectX or OpenGL). Most "programmers" simply call a Direct3D API and voila, a textured 3D object with realistic lighting. What kind of lighting? What's the math behind it? They don't know and don't care either. If you fall in this category, this book is not for you. Get a book on Direct3D or something like that. But, if you really want to KNOW why things work the work they work, this book beats everything out there flat. This book is even better than computer graphics textbooks in my opinion. Yes, Foley and Vandam is the bible, but they leave it to your imagination and intelligence to implement whatever they talk about. This guy actually implements such advanced topics as lighting, shadows, etc. in SOFTWARE, without any hardware support. Such a feat is worthy of appreciation. Also, I don't know what that dude from Alabama was cribbing about. He probably falls in the "I made it, but I don't know how" category. He complains abt the demos, but I challenge him or anybody to create demos better than this, WITHOUT using hardware acceleration. The demo in the last chapter (the 2 monsters) is AWESOME. Yes, this book has some problems, notably the myriad typographic errors and Lamothe's bad coding style (very messy). But, that's a small price to pay, considering the amount you learn from this monster of a book.
Buy this book and you will never regret it...
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