Reader reviews

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

I have been working with kinematics for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with kinematics.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

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 progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. 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 have been working with mathematics for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

A useful guide. The examples assume a particular environment, but that is fixable.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. 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.

A worthwhile addition to my shelf, with realistic expectations.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Mixed feelings. The good parts are genuinely good; the rest is forgettable.

This is the third book I have read on microsoft programming this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.