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Andrew
Glassner's Other Notebook
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In 1996 I started writing
a regular column for the magazine IEEE
Computer Graphics and Applications. This book
(appearing in Summer 2002) is the second collection of
my columns, bringing together three year's worth of articles.
They've all been updated and revised for this gathering.
As a bonus, the book also includes an updated version
of one of my favorite technical papers, "A Shape
Synthesizer," that shows how to adapt the principles
of sound synthesis to creating shapes. |
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The idea that graphics is fun is reflected in the book's
subtitle, Further Recreations 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 if a couple of glitches slipped into
the new material, you'll be able to get the list of errata
here.
I had a lot of fun writing this book, and I hope people will
enjoy reading it. The book is published by AK
Peters. You can find it at most online bookstores, such
as Amazon,
Barnes
and Noble, and fatbrain.
This book is a sequel to my first collection, Andrew
Glassner's Notebook.
Here's the table of contents:
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Preface
1 An Open and Shut Case
2 O Say, Can You See?
3 Celtic Knotwork
4 The Digital Ceraunoscope: Synthetic Thunder and Lightning
5 Texturing With Symmetry
6 Soap Bubbles
7 Fill 'Er Up!
8 A Change of Scene
9 Tricks of the Trade
10 Quantum Computing
11 A Shape Synthesizer
Index
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The book has been getting some very positive reviews. Here
are a couple of excerpts; click on the name of the source
for the whole review.
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Amazon.com |
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The combination of beautiful graphics
and a curious mind make this book a fantastic educational experience.
I just happened to see it in a bookstore, picked it up, and
couldn't stop reading it until the end. The quality of the book,
even though it is a paperback, is fantastic, and each chapter
opens up a new and fun idea. I notice that Amazon is nearly
out of stock. I suspect that means it's really selling well.
It should.
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DirectX4VB |
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The book, as Glassner puts it in
the first sentence of the preface: "This book is about
having fun with computer graphics". This statement remains
true for the majority of the book, obviously some parts will
appeal more to other people, but in general if you find something
that grabs your attention it is a pleasure to read through it.
I personally liked the chapters on Celtic knot-work and soap
bubbles. The writing style used is generally informal (except
when it's necessary to explain things with mathematics) and
is very much in the style of the author writing how he might
talk to you about this subject.
The other great thing about this book is the way it's presented
on each page - every page is adorned with lots of colorful
diagrams and photos - not something you usually find with
computer books, the best you can usually hope for is a set
of color plates in the middle of the book. This very visual
approach to presenting his notes emphasizes the informal and
friendly writing style.
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Edu-sig |
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Beautifully conceived, illustrated
and written.
It's rare to find a book which is so encouraging, helpful
and fascinating on computer graphics, yet without ever being
sacrificed to local programming language dogma. This is above
all about exploring the real world. Part of our 'real' world
now includes computer graphics. The [author] never loses sight
of the wonderful scope between observation, analysis, synthesis
and simulation. You could build an entire course around
this lucid book.
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