Contacts and Constraints (Paperback)

The clearest explanation of physics simulation I have come across.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

An enjoyable and informative read, though it could have been shorter.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

Three stars feels about right. Useful, but not essential.

I have been working with physics simulation for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. Borrow it first if you can, or at least check the table of contents carefully before buying.