The idea that graphics is fun is reflected in the book's subtitle, Recreational Computer Graphics. The cover is a notebook-style collage of some illustrations from different chapters, evoking the idea of a notebook.

You can read notes on the original columns, plus the ones that haven't yet been collected, here.

It's inevitable that any time you create new material, you'll also create new errors! I've corrected the errors from the original columns, but a couple of glitches slipped into the new material. You can get the list of errata here.

I had a lot of fun writing this book, and I hope people will enjoy reading it. This book corrects all the errors I knew of from the columns, but I'm sure some new ones crept in; you can find an errata list here. The book is currently available, published by Morgan-Kaufmann. You can find it at most online bookstores, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and fatbrain.

Here's the table of contents:

The book has received some very complimentary reviews. Here are some excerpts. For online reviews you can read the whole thing at the source by following the link.

Andrew Glassner's Notebook is a compilation of lively and brain-tickling columns from the bimonthly magazine IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications, some of which are published here in their entirety for the first time. Going beyond mere "fun with computer graphics," topics include problems in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and even industrial design.

The book is attractively designed with an abundance of illustrations that are colorfully visual and as elegant as they are entrancing. Patterns of all kinds in science are intriguing, and this is proven many times over. There is substantial serious mathematics here also: the expert will find the articles enhanced by it, but nonexperts can bypass it without missing any of the fun.

This notebook will appeal to mathematicians, graphic artists, and any open-minded, curious thinker, even the scientifically inclined junior high schooler. It is the sort of book that could fill scientists with new enthusiasm or inspire nonscientists to reconsider why they didn't like science in the first place.
--Angelynn Grant

Andrew Glassner's Notebook: Recreational Computer Graphics, offers both a theoretical understanding of the mathematics behind graphics and an effective approach to implementation. The end result is that you can use his techniques to enhance your own work whether you're a student, artist, scientist or professional graphics designer.

The first sentence in the preface sums up the book: "This book is about having fun with computer graphics." Usually, a heavy-duty computer graphic design book is filled with algorithms, polygons and spline models. Although this book does include geometric interpolations, it is inherently readable and never loses its sense of fun.

Mosaics, box-building, solar halos and even archeology have a place in Andrew Glassner's Notebook. Mirror reflections and billiard balls give way to mathematical constructs such as Ptolemy's Theorem, Napoleon's Theorem and Fourier transformations. Throughout the book, Glassner sees the world of patterns as a world that computer graphic artists can access and make their own. You'll find it to be compelling reading, whether your interest is that of a professional designer involved in creating Web sites, or a student in computer science or a related field. This provocative and enlightening book could probably even be used as a text to convert the math-phobic student; that's something that can't be said for most school notebooks!
--Sharon Hart