Immersive
May 10, 2023
Take Your XR Knowledge to Next Level with These Must-Read Books
Take Your XR Knowledge to Next Level with These Must-Read Books

Learn more about extended reality with our selection of books for developers, students, enthusiasts, and those interested in modern technologies. Our selection touches on various aspects of the development of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, as well as their application areas, and highlights the work experience of specialists who worked with various XR programs and apps.

Whether you are a beginner or a professional, these XR books will give you more theory and practical use cases that will provide you with new knowledge, skills, and inspiration for your future work.

The VR Book: Human-Centered Design for Virtual Reality by Jason Jerald

Jason Jerald’s book covers how to create VR experiences with user-centered design. Dr. Jerald is the Co-founder and Principal Consultant of NextGen Interactions, which develops VR content.

Creating such experiences is quite a difficult task. And quite often the reasons for the failure of VR programs and applications are not the limitations of the technology itself, but a poor understanding of a user perceiving and interacting with this technology.

This book provides useful tips on how to improve your virtual application and make it more user-friendly. A reader will find out more about how to make their experience more intuitive and the causes of motion sickness in virtual reality.

This book is intended for VR designers, programmers, engineers, students, teachers, and other professionals who work in the field of immersive technologies.

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/VR-Book-Human-Centered-Virtual-Reality/dp/1970001127 

Augmented Human: How Technology is Shaping the New Reality by Helen Papagiannis

The book by Dr. Helen Papagiannis covers the essence of augmented reality, the possibilities of this technology, in which direction AR can evolve, and how augmented reality is already changing our interaction with modern technologies in various areas of life.

Dr. Helen Papagiannis is a leading expert in the world of augmented reality and the founder of XR Goes Pop. You can read more about her and other outstanding women in XR here. 

In the book, a reader will also learn about the technical features of AR-friendly gadgets, new approaches to storytelling in augmented reality, how our doppelgangers can learn the behavior of the original physical object and much more.

The Augmented Human Guide is intended for designers, developers, students, business leaders, artists, educators, and anyone who is just curious about AR.

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Augmented-Human-Technology-Shaping-Reality/dp/1491928328 

Creating Augmented and Virtual Realities: Theory and Practice for Next-Generation Spatial Computing by Erin Pangilinan, et al.

In this book, Erin Pangillian, along with Steve Lukas and Vasanth Mohan, evaluate the development of virtual and augmented reality and offer advice on how to improve the skills of designing XR experiences.

Pangillian is an entrepreneur, computer designer, software developer, and author of her own blog. Steve Lukas is the director of product management in Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.’s XR business group. Vasanth Mohan is the founder of FusedVR and the VR developer of the Nanodegree Course.

The book by the aforementioned developers offers readers instructions and techniques on how to create convenient and practical applications, and these instructions are supported by theoretical material and examples of successful use cases.

The authors also interviewed other experienced developers in the industry, such as Timoni West, Vice President, Virtual and Augmented Reality at Unity, Victor Prisacariu, Professor of Information Engineering at the University of Oxford, and Nicolas Meuleau, Director of Game AI at Unity.

Creating Augmented and Virtual Realities is for designers, artists, and developers working with ARKit, ARCore, spatial maps, and cross-platform applications for virtual reality headsets.

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Augmented-Virtual-Realities-Next-Generation/dp/1492044199 

Augmented Reality: Principles and Practice by Dieter Schmalstieg and Tobias Hollerer

The book by Dieter Schmalstieg and Tobias Hollerer tells in detail about augmented reality technology and how AR changes the human perception of modern technologies.

Dieter Schmalstieg is an Austrian computer scientist, professor, and head of the Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision at Graz University of Technology. Tobias Hollerer is a professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Schmalstieg and Hollerer’s book describes in detail augmented reality from a technological perspective, revealing the nuances of developing AR applications, from types of displays and trackers to building and interacting with 3D objects.

This book is intended for developers, students, engineers, researchers, and those interested in the development of augmented reality.

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Augmented-Reality-Principles-Practice-Usability/dp/0321883578 

Performing Mixed Reality by Steve Benford and Gabriella Giannachi

In this book, Steve Benford and Gabriella Giannachi explore the topic of mixed reality as a tool for live performance enhancement.

Benford is a Professor of Collaborative Computing in the School of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham. Giannachi is a Professor of Performance and New Media and Director of the Center for Intermedia at the University of Exeter.

Performing Mixed Reality highlights the topics of how immersive technologies are transforming the theater. In the book, the authors describe the theory and practical use cases of using mixed reality for live performances, drawing on work and research carried out in the Mixed Reality Laboratory at the University of Nottingham. The book also includes interviews with lab researchers and artists. These insights give a reader a more comprehensive understanding of how to implement MR.

The book was originally published in August 2011, but the most recent reissue came out last November. Book Authority listed it as one of the top XR books to read in 2023.

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Performing-Mixed-Reality-Steve-Benford/dp/0262546507 

 

The books mentioned in this article will give you a deeper understanding of the vast potential of extended reality that is currently changing our world. You can also discover new techniques and practical skills to make your applications more efficient and convenient for customers. So, start reading and explore the limitless world of XR, where you are sure to find something for yourself.

Image: Unsplash.

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