This is the best direct3d book ?

I got this title because it had the most references and positive
reviews. But this is a seriously flawed book. Important topics
like depth, culling, block bit transfers, and any discussion of
shadows and reflections are completely missing.
The book style is quirky, it starts like a users guide, with
installation instructions for directX, then launches into a
feature by feature discussion with virtually no overview material
about what 3d drawing means, and what we are trying to accomplish.

Further, the author starts with an example of how to write a
message loop that POLLS for messages instead of releases control
to get them "because we need all the time we can get for the
game". This is an amateur hour stunt that is the reason some
apps bog down the system in Windows. Its totally unecessary,
you can use timers to make sure you get program time from the
system WHEN APPROPRIATE, not continuously WASTING CPU time.
DON'T use this technique !

I'm sorry to say that I have not found a professional, readable
high level book on Direct3d yet. This is in contrast to the
excellent books available for OpenGL. Sad.

Other Reviews

• It's an okay beginner's guide, but by no means the "definitive" guide.
• Overview and that's all
• This is the best direct3d book ?
• good start for direct3d intro