I haven't seen this book before, but looking at the product description, I have to ask myself: Is this rendering as it relates to computer art (movies, scenes, etc.) or as it relates to computer games? Because the two are quite different, and you may be interested in one as opposed to the other.

I think the point is that although these two fields WERE completely different, there is a lot of convergence now, particularly when it comes to global illumination and physical light models which is VERY applicable to games, I have to admit that I have not seen this book, and it's difficult to tell exactly how good the book is from the synopsis and reviews. Can you find a table of contents anywhere? I usually find that quite helpful when choosing a book as it lets you know exactly what is covered

I got this book for Christmas, and I haven't a chance to read it thoroughly yet. It does seem very good and very accessible though. Having working source code is a big bonus in my view. It covers virtually every topic you need and seems to do it all in some depth, it's not a light book to hold!

It definitely looks at non-real rendering rather than real-time which is needed for games, but like you say it is still applicable.

Hope this is of some use,
Andrew

Here is a link to the table of contents :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/012553180X/toc/ref=br_dp_toc/026-9017842-4747611

Although a lot of the fundamental concepts seem to be covered, the only concern that I would have is that there does not seem to be much of a discussion of how this can be used in real-time applications, i.e. the way physically based light models can be APPROXIMATED in real time, but if you are looking for a book to give you the fundamentals then this looks like it could be pretty useful, of course until you actually get to read it, it's hard to say.

Here are some others you might want to look into, although I haven't read these :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568811772/qid=1104923830/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-9017842-4747611

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558602763/ref=lm_lb_2/026-9017842-4747611

If you are specifically interested in radiosity, then in my opinion this is still one of the best books you can get on the subject :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0121782700/qid=1104923951/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-9017842-4747611