Rating: 
Summary: Par for the course
Review: There are almost no books on directX 9.0 and C#, so any help is appreciated. First thing is that the sample code that is promised on the CD just isn't there, though some other very interesting ones are. The best demos on the CD are all copyright Microsoft, so I'm not sure how much you can really use them as helper classes(?). The version of direct X is already behind, so there are changes to make if you have Summer 2004, like I do. Chapter 1 explains that without normals, surface colors are all black, then every example after that has no normals, so they do not show up. All and all if you are a good coder and have the time you can work through it and learn some important lessons. Since material is so scare for C# Direct X, I would give this book an average grade of 3 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: CONCISE
Review: CONCISE is one of the two words that come to mind, and naturally, KNOWLEDGEABLE is the other. The only flaw I can find is about some lack of "overview" of the process that may result from the "discovery" approach the author uses, but that, we can live with it... only if the index was not itself also too "concise". That depreciates the book "as reference" a little bit (but anyhow, the help file should be the ultimate reference). For the very good points of the book, the book does not stay evasive and superficial, it travels over all the main various points that DirectX can deliver, in a refreshing way... with illustration of common "problem" while you proceed, which can be very useful futher on when you are alone and confronted to the same "problem pattern": hey, all my stuff is black... oh, yes, in chapter one Tom Miller also got that problem at some point... etc. And the book proceed fast, very fast. A standard book covering the same matter would probably be in three large tomes, but the style of the author delivers the juice within far less pages. That is not neccessary to say the reader can walk through all the stuff in much less time, on the other hand, since you can't read absent mindly any paragraph. Another great stuff is that the author SHARES his experience, that is something I really appreciate, since you also acquire a sense of do and avoid, much more than the traditionnal approach of doing a program, one way (without seeing the "wrong ways" you can soon or later fall upon). Sure, the code does not seem to be always optimized for execution, but that is probably wanted for a better illustrattion of concepts (simplicity over optimization). I don't know if previous knowledge of DirectX or C# is required, I got, and I really enjoy the book... maybe I would be a little bit more zombie-like, mind "overloaded" with too much new stuff (without time to "placë" and to catalog the acquired knowledge in a very short time), but I also got some other books on DirectX, and this one is among the best I have put my hand on. It may not go as deep as a dedicated book on ONE specific piece of DIrectX, but don't judge negatively the relatively small number of pages in the book! Note that the book is about DirectX, not, primary, about game programming.
Rating:
Summary: Best in class!
Review: Easily the best book around for a comprehensive start-to-finish look at the new world of Managed DirectX. A surefire way to get started on the road to producing quality code in C# using the entirety of the DX9 library of tools, sound, networking, input and graphics.
Rating:
Summary: Really is a great "Kick Start"
Review: I was looking to buy a book to help build a 3D game engine using C# and managed DirectX9. I initially bought "Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C# by Lynn Thomas Harrison". The title seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. But, Lynn's book was just a game engine he created with a huge dumping of code. An interesting exercise to run through, but certainly it wasn't adaptable to anything beyond the type of game he developed. Miller's book does a great job of covering the *entire* managed DirectX library including graphics, sound, input and networking. He walks through examples, introduces 3d concepts (along with the appropriate utilities in DirectX) and explores why you would take one approach over another. It was absolutely what I was looking for! The book also includes sample code that works right out of the box. In a nutshell, I would say this book is like having the Managed DirectX team walk you through several tutorials that include commentary and reasons for taking certain approaches. It should also be required reading for anyone that wants to understand what is included in the DirectX SDK samples/tutorials.
Rating:
Summary: Really is a great "Kick Start"
Review: I was looking to buy a book to help build a 3D game engine using C# and managed DirectX9. I initially bought "Introduction to 3D Game Engine Design Using DirectX 9 and C# by Lynn Thomas Harrison". The title seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. But, Lynn's book was just a game engine he created with a huge dumping of code. An interesting exercise to run through, but certainly it wasn't adaptable to anything beyond the type of game he developed. Miller's book does a great job of covering the *entire* managed DirectX library including graphics, sound, input and networking. He walks through examples, introduces 3d concepts (along with the appropriate utilities in DirectX) and explores why you would take one approach over another. It was absolutely what I was looking for! The book also includes sample code that works right out of the box. In a nutshell, I would say this book is like having the Managed DirectX team walk you through several tutorials that include commentary and reasons for taking certain approaches. It should also be required reading for anyone that wants to understand what is included in the DirectX SDK samples/tutorials.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I was oriinally going to bypass this book. I have purchased a few other DX9 books and they all pretty much let me down. I saw an episode of the MSDN Show and the author (Tom Miller) was the guest. So i sat there and watched his interview and learned about what he has contributed to DX9 and thought i couldn't go wrong. I was right. This book is great. It goes through the basics you need to start programming with DX9, as well as walks you through some great examples along the way. A little warning to those wishing to get alot from this book (and you can!). Read everything, if you skip something, you might get the impression that the author might have forgotten something. I havent found a problem yet. I have walked through every example and they all work great. I have re-coded all the examples and they work fine as well. This book is well worth the time and here on Amazon, the price aint all that bad either. Happy DX9'ing!
Rating: 
Summary: This book fails to teach DreictX or Game Programming!,
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. It fails to cover DirectX at all! there's nothing about C# in it. There are several places that assume you have an understanding of C/C++. Novice programmers will be quite frustrated by this. this is one of several books that I originally bought this book as a gift for my young nephew who has not programmed in any language, hoping it was going to teach DirectX in the context of game programs. Unfortunately it fails to cover DirectX at all! and there are no chapters on games. Hardly worth putting Game Programming in the title. My recommendation is to find another book. Unfortunately this one does not live up to its promises.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: It's a bit difficult to compare this book with other MDX books since there are so few. Let me start with what this book does not do. It doesn't teach you to program (in C# or any other language, which isn't all that surprising given the title). I also don't think it is aimed at a beginner in 3D graphics - it doesn't cover any of the usual mathematical primers that I've come to expect as filler material in most graphics books (this book doesn't attempt to teach you to write a software rasterizer so it isn't really necessary and there are some very good books dedicated to the subject that do a much better job than a chapter or two stuck in front of a MDX book). It also doesn't try to teach you to write a commercial quality game - I'm not sure any book can do that (and "Kick Start" means exactly that). Lastly, it doesn't provide exhaustive coverage of DirectX. So, what does this book provide then? It provides a very concise treatment of the D3D part of MDX and fair coverage of the rest (enough to get you started). To get the most out of this book you should have a good knowledge of C#/.NET programming and a good idea of the fundamentals of 3D programming. It certainly wont hurt to have had some prior knowledge of the DirectX SDK and some idea of game programming. In other words, this is an intermediate level book (says so on the back cover too) and provides exactly what it sets out to do and leaves the non-essential blanks to be filled in elsewhere. Overall though, I give this book 5 stars for the following reasons: 1. Well written.
2. The author knows what he is taking about (no great surprise there).
3. Covers the topic well without the fluff.
4. The samples work (hint: install the summer update).
5. Priced well.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the better books on managed directx
Review: It's a pretty good introductory book on Managed Directx 9. If you have studied basic linear algebra and physics before, you wouldn't have any trouble understanding the topics in book. However, as the book title implies, it does not get in deep enough for you to start writing video games in 3D using MDX9 right away. In overall, I am highly satisfied with the book but somewhat disappointed with the breadth and depth of the topics it covers. I am very sure that the author's ready to release the next book on the advanced MDX topics and am ready to buy his next book as it comes out.
Rating:
Summary: One of the better books on managed directx
Review: It's a pretty good introductory book on Managed Directx 9. If you have studied basic linear algebra and physics before, you wouldn't have any trouble understanding the topics in book. However, as the book title implies, it does not get in deep enough for you to start writing video games in 3D using MDX9 right away. In overall, I am highly satisfied with the book but somewhat disappointed with the breadth and depth of the topics it covers. I am very sure that the author's ready to release the next book on the advanced MDX topics and am ready to buy his next book as it comes out.
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