Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reference, but poor writing style and license
Review: I had to endure reading this book for 2 long semesters, and I've come to know some parts of it pretty well. I'll try to be short and say that the book is an excellent reference for the practicioner (and for the poor student:) - however, the ill-placed "jokes" have terribly annoyed me and my fellow class mates. Entire pagagraphs in almost every section dedicated to some second-tier humor were not so helpful in solving numerical problems.The license for the code is just bad and I found it rather pointless, given the cost of the book (for me it's expensive; and I know it's downloadable). The authors should maybe reconsider this at a later stage... PS: The GNU Scientific Library implements most, if not all, of the NR routines. It might be worth checking out, since it's also in plain C.
Rating: 
Summary: Useful for fourier optics simulations
Review: I have completed numerous fourier transform algorithms (as well a FFT ones too) and this little book has been very helpful with most of its functions. I use it all the time to train my interns. Very good to get started... but beware that for advanced computing you might need a more complicated book.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible
Review: I have owned several editions of this book since the late 1980s, first in Fortran, then in C. What makes it so valuable is that each algorithm is explained first, then implemented. A C++ man myself, I don't use the clunky C code in the text, but it is useful to see debugged code when you are doing something complicated, even when you are only translating it to another language. The encyclopedic scope of the book is also welcome. I am always stumbling into an area of numerical analysis that is new to me, trying to get something to work. Time and again I have turned to this book to give me a basic education in some topic (say, optimization of functions) as well as actual code that I can work from. I know of no other source for this kind of information. The text is well written, in a lively style. I recommend it most highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Numerical Recipes in C -- Handy, but caution warranted
Review: I have used Numerical Recipes in C with generally fairly good results. Nine times out of ten, the methods provided produce the correct results. However in a disturbingly large number of cases, the routines in this book failed to be sufficiently robust. Though in general the methods are handy, the cautious reader should note that the contents of the book have given rise to serious criticism on the net.
Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone in the field
Review: I have used the FORTRAN and C versions during the last 15 years. I have learned from this book almost I know in this field and found littles use in other books in the field. How shall I put it? It is the sort of book for the believer not the guru. One thins is missing from the family: C++ version.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Virtually Indespensible, Far From Perfect
Review: I purchased this book mainly for the chapter on Eigensystems and the chapter on Random Numbers, however, I have not been disappointed with any aspect of this book that I have examined thusfar: it has relatively good explanations for how the code is supposed to work on a theoretical level, code examples, and referances for those who wish to read further into the subject. That being said: their implementation directions are somewhat lacking, as is their code. The way it is written seems like three things were taking place: 1) they were not taking advantage of the language or using it's features; 2) they were trying to fit the code into as small a space as possible; 3) the authors were not that experienced in the language to begin with. Thus arrays are counted from 1 instead of 0, the code uses variable names that are more than a little lacking (e.g., the array "d" returned the list of eigenvalues), and rather than pass by referance they pass a pointer. Hence, if you are going to use this book, be prepared to translate the code so that it is both efficient and legible in your own text. This is not difficult, just nominally time consuming and occasionally tedious. Fix this and the book's utility would increase a hundredfold. Overall I found this book to be worthwhile, despite its shortcommings, and have yet to find its equal anywhere in industry.
Rating:
Summary: Most useful book on my bookshelf
Review: I'm a graduate student in biochemistry who frequently needs to solve numerical problems (FFT, least squares curve fitting, optimization, random number generation, eigensystems, etc.), and I can honestly say this is the most useful book on my bookshelf. The code is simple enough to customize for your particular problem, and powerful enough to handle problems orders of magnitude larger than you could do in Matlab, Mathematica, or Excel. The explanations are wonderfully clear, and even fun to read! They give you concise descriptions of theory, followed by a good dose of practical advice and editorializing.
Rating:
Summary: This book is what it claims to be -- Instant recipes!!
Review: If you are looking for an instant "look it up" algorithm, you will find it here. No elaborate theory, but what is given in the book will work quite well for most folks. In contrast to what another reader has said, I like the idea of being able to use either zero-based or one-based arrays. It is somewhat difficult to code when you have to start your arrays at zero. I think it is an irritating feature in an otherwise excellent language. I am waiting for a C++ or better still, a java version with lots of applets!
Rating:
Summary: Routines and more routines
Review: If you ever had to program a complicated numerical algorithm, such as SVD decomposition, Bessel functions, eigensystems or Fourier transform, you will know how useful this book is. All those problems, and many others, are presented, the theory is explained and the full code of a routine, which solves it, is given. This version brings the codes in C++, but there are versions for Pascal, FORTRAN 77 and Basic. If you need any routine, you just have to "cut and paste" it from the book into your program.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost useless
Review: Like most people, I find the worst thing of this book is that the arrays start with 1 instead of the default 0, which also proves that it is just an awkward translation of the Fortran book. As far as I know, most people using NR are not professional programmers, they just want some foolproof codes. Yet the "vector" in the book makes things confusing and not easy to use.
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