It's an amazing book, but I think most beginners would struggle with it. It's more of an intermediate - advanced level overview of the entire field. Required reading of you're serious about getting into real time graphics, for sure.

I was recently asked by a colleague how to get into rendering. I recommended this book to her. I did read through the first chapter again to see how beginner friendly the start was.

It seems to assume some familiarity with linear algebra, but it seemed quite accessible. It's difficult to gauge when you already know the topic well and I'm still waiting to hear back from my colleague.

edit: I might add that the reason I have a copy is actually that it was the textbok we used at the University.

Yeah, the early sections are good for beginners. Later sections less so - try reading through the chapter on PBR without prior knowledge, for example. I'm not saying this book is not suitable for beginners. But I think there are easier places to start and it's likely many beginners would get frustrated some time after the first few chapters unless they are very motivated or using it as part of a course (and hence having someone lead them through the material). For a beginner I'd recommend using this as a reference - something to keep on your shelf for years and keep coming back to as you go deeper into new areas of graphics - rather than trying to read it through and absorb all the material in one go.

Those are excellent points and I think you're right. It's not the right recommendation for people just looking to dip their toes into the field.

> try reading through the chapter on PBR without prior knowledge

This is a tangent, but I honestly wish I could. It's a wistful fancy, but sometimes I wish I could experience something for the first time again.