Goes

I do have more important things to do than write reviews on books I have purchased; however this book has been such a disappointment that I'd like to keep you from wasting your money as I have. Luckily the book is hefty enough to make a good doorstop, so im not completely out.
Im not trying to say the author doesnt know what he's talking about, nor that you won't get anything out of this book. In fact the first 2 chapters are a phenomenal overview of 3D games, written in a concise manner that is easy to follow, and in fact somewhat entertaining. I just wish the rest of the book followed suit.
Chapter 3 is where the book really begins to fail. To begin with, the text immediately defies it's title. This book should have been called 3D game programming with DirectX, for the third chapter introduces you to the world of Direct3D, and virtually ever portion of code in the book is based upon DirectX. While it is immediately evident that DirectX is a powerful tool, and to program games in Windows environments it will be a necessary tool for you to learn, this text will do little to help you do so.
From the fourth chapter on, the text dives headfirst into DirectX code that is simply a horror to navigate through. The author doesn't make the code any easier to follow; you are bombarded with page after page of code, in fact pages 51-83 contain "a simple DirectDraw Encapsulation that is easy to follow," then leaves a mere 4 pages to explain a few of the function called in the previous 33 pages of code. It would have been nice if the author had used some comments in his code to let you know what is going on, but anything of the sort is sparsely inserted into the multitude of unexplained functions, reserved words and variables that leave you totally in the dark about what you are doing. I bought this book to learn about the fundamentals of programming graphics and game logic, and instead Im given page upon page of directX code that restricts me to programming on windows platforms rather than the C++ the title promised. Any idiot can copy code as the author expects, but learning what the code does, how to improve it and adapt to your specification is certainly more desirable.
This book may serve some use as a reference book, as the appendices in the back contain a massive amount of DirectX function overviews. However, by the time you learn DirectX, newer versions will be released, and will make the apendices covering DirectX 7 less useful, if not useless.

The real disappointment here is that the author really knows what he is talking about, but fails to convey it in a manner that makes learning possible. This could have been an excellent book, but without solid explanations of the overwhelming amount of code, the book fails.

The book explains the DirectX 3D functions. It doesn't go into a lengthy explanation about COM, it assumes you are already familiar with C++. This book doesn't teach any of the fundamental steps that are necessary to begin 3D programming. And thats fine, but there are a few things that disappointed me about my purchase. 1. I couldn't get the source code on chapter 4 to link correctly. It compiled fine. But I kept getting an unresolved external link error. This could be an error on my part, and if it is please someone email an tell me! But I linked the library to my application and included the necessary header files so I don't understand. And the book isn't clear on how to resolve this error. 2. Half the book is just reference. The explanations for each of functions is great. But when I saw that the book was 800 pages long, I didn't realize half of it was going to be reference. 3. This is not for a beginner or even an intermediate programmer. And I consider myself intermediate. I personally would have liked more information on COM, and some more explanation of the source code. I don't think I am really qualified to review the book. I need to learn more on COM before I can use DirectX. But I noticed how the first person to review the book only gave it one star. I think that is an unfair assessment. The packaged CD did come wwith some useful information, and the book will be an invaluable tool once I am ready to start using DirectX. However, to anyone thinking of buying this book BEFORE they have a firm knowledge of C++, Windows programing, and especially COM. Don't bother. Advanced users only!

Overall I think it's a pretty good book, but not without its flaws. Specifically, no where in the book do you find a complete game or even a compilable program, either of which would have been very helpful for beginning 3D programmers.

On the good side, let me say I loved the book's attention to math, its coverage of several difficult (but important) topics, the source code it does include, and the way it makes DirectX easy to understand. Most books just introduce matrix math, vector equations, and formulas and then leave you to wonder what's really going on. But in this book the author takes the time to explain what matrices are (4 vectors aligned on 4 axes!), how they work, the basics of vector math, and the theory behind most equations the book uses.

The book also covers some hot topics like precise collision detection, 3D path finding, and 3D optimization techniques. In general the theory is covered well, with attention to the math, and usually sample code is included (except for path-finding, where it's all theory).

The source code the book does include is first-rate. One class wraps DirectSound and lets you play a 2d or 3d sound in three lines of code (just give it the name of a wave file and it will do the rest). Other code wraps DirectInput and DirectDraw. You also find code scattered throughout the tutorials.

The tutorials on DirectX are very easy to understand, and do a good job introducing the different parts of DirectX and showing you how to use them. They're strictly for beginners, though, as they don't cover advanced info like you would find in Inside DirectX. They refer you often to the appendixes, which are a topic all their own.

The appendixes contain references for DirectDraw, DirectSound, Direct3D, and DirectInput, and they consume about half the book. They are very dryly written, but the few entries I checked are easier to understand than the SDK and seem to include more information on how to actually use the functions.

Would I recommend the book? All in all, yes, but don't expect to find lots of source code or any programs that you can learn from, compile, and tinker with (except in the SDK). Also be warned that if you can't use a DirectX reference, then half the book will useless to you.

In language and humour that belongs to an adolescent, the author has all but declared Ingrid Bergman a beautiful but manipulative whore,a consummate liar and psychologically unbalanced, while the heroes of the book are obviously Ingrid Bergman's loser-lovers who probably contributed to it.The author finds pleasure in culling out the "contradictions" in everyone's versions of facts in spite of never having interviewed Bergman himself.This is no book to be read by either fan or foe. It is the most undignified piece of writing I have ever read.

"As time goes by..." is an interesting and well-writen book about Ingrid Bergman'life. In fact, it brings the reader some corrections in Bergman's autobiography. My reservation is that the book doesn't go further Bergman's life and most of the information are well-known by some reader that knows at least something of her life.

This story is stricly for kids. The plot and artwork look like they were done by kids.

This work features the X-Men, Marvel's mutant heroes extraordinarire, in a battle against the parasitic alien race known as the Brood. The Brood are wonderful foes and this could have made for an interesting work, but much of the action leaves one indifferent. But all in all, not a bad buy for a Marvel fan -- especially one who follows the Children of the Atom.

As with all Curious George stories, I disagree with the generalmoral that this book carries. And that seems to be that all's wellthat ends well, or the end justifies the means. I disagree with this philosophy, and especially think it a bad philosophy to teach young children, who, due to their inexperience and lack of reference, need stricter boundaries than do adults or even adolescents. I give This book 2 stars, instead of just one, due to sentimental reasons, I suppose. Curious George was one of the first set of books I remember that had a little more vivid color than the standard red and black library books of my early youth. END

If you know what to expect from this book, you won't be disappointed. In fact, that holds true for all of the books in th "Things a Man Should Know..." series (there is another on how to dress, for example).

What you should expect first is a small book, both in page count and it's physical deminsions. Second, the advice inside is presented machine-gun style--a rapid-fire series of short quips and quotes. Some of them are fairly funny and some of them are actually very useful, and they all deliver legitimate and correct advice.

While the lessons inside are important for anyone in business, this book might be best suited as a gift for a graduating college student, providing an easy-to-digest primer for that first important business lunch or meeting.

There are certainly scores of books that offer advice that is just as good, if not better, with more detail and more context. And if you have been in the business world for a few years and have had your share of meetings with clients or important interviews, there isn't too much you'll learn from this little book.

However, if you or someone you know wants an inexpensive, hip, and up-to-date collection of advice on how to behave in today's business world, that's pretty much exactly what you'll get here--nothing more, nothing less.

The book is written by a British sailor using many nautical terms unfamiliar to even an experienced sailor. Much of the information is very useful, "IF" sense can be made of it.
By the time the book would make sense to you, you would have so much experience that you wouldn't need it.
I am halfway through the book, and may not finish it because it is so frustrating trying to understand his examples. In addition, the illustrations seem to be quite old, I believe.
Incidently, I have been sailing in the US for more than 20 years, and taught sailing for a considerable period of time.
Money is better spent elsewhere, in my opinion.

having family that were born in egypt and having visited and lived in egypt myself, i foudn this book to be a very degrading view of the egyptians and sudanese. yes, they are simple people by our standards but their hearts, words and actions more than make up for this. their lifestyle is one that we perhaps should look at adapting ourselves to rather and making fun of or simply marking primative. whilst i found this book had some interesting sections, on the whole i was rather embarrassed that a fellow aussie would have so little heart.

i used it for firewood because i was cold and i couldnt afford wood because my mom is in jail.

This book could potentially have made considerable contributions to two areas of study: first, the relative roles of domestic and external factors in explaining foreign policy, especially conflictual, and second of Syrian foreign policy in particular. Unfortunately, on both counts Lawson fails to convince. Lawson starts out by dismissing conventional explanations of Syrian foreign policy, and especially why it engages in conflictual foreign policies, basically engaging caricatures of straw men. He then offers his own explanation, based on obtuse Marxian analysis that he admits is not applicable to Syria. The basic thesis is that as a country sufferes economic problems that increase domestic opposition to the regime, the regime's coalition begins to fray. The result is that the regime either angages in external conflict to divert attention or seeks to conquer other territory to increase resources. Plausible, and if sustained in the Syrian case a significant coup for the domestic school of explaining foreign policy, given that Syria is a weak state in which external concerns should dominate. It is not sustained. While there are many reasons the argument falls, three should be sufficient: First: Any book with the title "Why Syria Goes To War" that does not analyze the 1973 War has a lacuna big enough to drive a tank through. The absence of any discussion of the Gulf War, in which Syria's mercenary actions were consistent with the thesis, is also odd. Second, Lawson's contention that severe domestic problems accounted for Syria's escalation to war in 1967 and that lower level of domestic conflict accounts for the limited intervention in Jordan in 1970 suffers on both accounts. In 1967 Syria reigned in the Palestinian terrorist attacks during May, precisely when the domestic turmoil was greatest, and Syria also sought to stay out of the war. As to 1970, the intervention was serious and highly risky. In short, the facts seem to contradict Lawson's thesis, and while he might have rescued it by drawing on Simmel or Coser, alas there is no mention of these theorists. Third, Lawson claims that the Marxian theory of crises in accumulation offers potentially falsifiable hypotheses. What these are is never made clear, and when domestic conflict is assuaged by Syrian peace efforts in the early 1990s, this too is explained by teh theory. Alas, a theory that explains everything explains nothing, and if Lawson was to be scientific about it he would have searched for disconfirming evidence rather than shoring up a theory in tatters. This is a missed opportunity. Rather than engaging in extensive analysis, Lawson basically presents fact after facts without incorporating it into a explanatory framework. Repeated references to Syria's ruling coalition appear without any explication of its constituent parts. Extensive discussions of economic minutia are followed by short statements that, a ha!, this explains Syrian foreign policy. Absent convincing connections, the book falls into assertionism. Ironically, the conclusion raises some interesting questions about the interaction of domestic and international politics, specifically concerning fears of instability spilling over. Had Lawson started with the conclusion he would have written a different book--and a better one.

Terrible book. Not a single reference. I purchased the book hoping to have some insight into what may have gone on, but this reads like fiction. How does the author know that Hemingway was impotent anyway? Whiting seems obessed with that point. He holds some strange grudge against Hemingway.

Anyone knowledgable about Hemingway would know that a book about his involvement in WWII would not be flattering; he was clearly playing soldier in a pompous self-important way. But this book, while it has interesting tidbits (without any references), has a bizarre obsession with Hemingway's impotence. Also, it seems that the writer begins to fancy himself a "great novelist" himself, what with his repetitve, melodramtic references to the "Factory of Death." Maybe he got co-opted by Hemingway, much the same way the people in his book that he criticizes did. If you can avoid getting irritated by this, it is an interesting read, although you wonder how much of it is factual.