Quaternions for Computer Graphics

If you know nothing about quaternions, and want to get a feel for how they work and what they can be used for, this book is perfect for you. This book is also perfect e.g. if you are a programmer writing code that has to rotate things in 3D space. I'm not currently doing any coding that requires it, but I am confident that I could code up quaternion rotations without much trouble should the need arise. In fact, that is the purpose of this book more or less, to teach you to be able to do just that. Those that are looking for a mathematically rigorous development of quaternions should look elsewhere. However, even for the more mathematically inclined (like I consider myself to be), since there are no difficult proofs to follow, the book can be read blazingly fast (just a few hours). If you are mathematically knowledgeable but have no real knowledge of quaternions (they aren't covered in any regular courses at my university, for example), this little book (it is quite slim!) can get you familiar, and fast. Some of the stuff covered in the book for the sake of completeness is extremely elementary, so if you are already familiar with these things (e.g. what a field is), I would say go ahead and skim those parts. I give this book 5 stars for being the perfect book to get any mathematically adept person up to speed on the somewhat obscure mathematical entities called "quaternions"; if you are additionally a programmer, the book will also prepare you to write code to rotate arbitrary vectors using quaternions. The book also contains a marvelous discussion of complex numbers and their rotational properties, which naturally sets the stage for quaternions and their own rotational properties. Note that in order to read this book you should at least be familiar with basic vector operations (mainly dot product and cross product; Calculus 3 is more than enough), as well as very basic linear algebra (i.e., know what a matrix is, how it operates on a vector, and how to multiply matrices).

By far, the most comprehensive book on rotations and quaternions. Not only does the author teach you, but he does it in a way that you will understand. The chapters contain examples, solutions, and theories. For years, I've failed to understand and visualize quaternions. After reading this book for a few hours, I went back to the board and solved my outstanding problem. Words cannot explain how thankful I am for this material.

Very clean, clear introduction. His use of the modern ordered-pair (s, v) notation makes understanding the derivations very easy. Anybody coming into this book with a reasonable grasp of vector algebra will leave with a clear understanding of quaternions in a short time. The only quibbles are that it's pretty expensive and the author does not complete the p' = qpq* proof, only illustrating with examples that the resulting quaternion p' is in fact the sought-after rotation. But the reader can prove this as an exercise using the material on pg. 79.

This book is $60ish dollars and is the price of a small novella. I was fully expecting a college sized book with a significant amount of text. This is a gift so I guess we will see if the $60 is worthwhile for the size.

Foremost the best buy on quaternions: crystal clear elaborations in a consistent notation. Fuzzy myths like 'gimbal lock' finally defined. Light volume, but as CF Gauss annotated his publications "pauca sed matura". Indeed!

This is a great book on quaternions. Its a superb introduction and an easy read that takes you from the very basics of complex numbers to rotation matrices. Its a pretty short read if you already have some experience with complex numbers and rotation matrices, but I think it should be very accessible if you have little experience with either. It is well written, the language keeps a good flow and it is a pleasure to read. As a bonus, the author puts quaternions into a historical context with just the right amount of added information. Its neither too much or too little history. I would like to see a couple more illustrations throughout the book, but the most important examples are well illustrated.