This is a great addition to the bookshelf of anyone who has been programming for a little while and who finally gets the syntax and basics of C++. Do not expect to learn everything you need to here, this is strictly for people who are done learning the basic concepts of programming and who are ready for a better explanation of how things work under the hood and how you can optimize your code's performance. I do not regret buying this book and recommend that anyone who is getting ready to design efficient code should get it as well. I recently got a job as a C++ game developer after a decade and a half of jobs ranging from higher-level ActionScript 2.0 game development (Flash), to lower-level C and DSP asm programming, with relatively little exposure to C++ apart from some COM objects and plug-in projects. I found this book very helpful in coming up to speed on the C++ features that aren't around in either C or any flavor of ActionScript. I can't say that I learned a whole lot about game-specific programming from this book, but I familiarized myself with great deal of OOP features unique to C++ in a short amount of time, for which I found the book to be worth the cover price. I do not have a high regard for Charles River Media technical books in general, but there are exceptions like this one from time to time. Great book. I've been doing C++ for around 3-4 years now and have been searching for a intermediate to expert book on the language. I cherish this book greatly as it has lead me to understand the greater power of C++ and I can now grasp other subjects with greater ease.