This book has a lot of good concepts for directX 9.0 programming for games, but most of the source files are very long, complex, and garbled based on his "engine". The content in the book is very helpful and precise, but it works better as a reference book then something to "learn directX" from. I prefered jon harbour's books on intro to c++ (with directX even though it does not say it) as a beginner book.