Real-Time Ray-Tracing with Vulkan for the Impatient

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

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Good value. Not perfect, but I would buy another book from this author.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The chapters on graphics are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.