My initial experience with the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) was not unlike that of a recreational pilot with a few hours of experience in single-engine propeller planes, who suddenly finds himself in the cockpit of an F15 jet fighter with no prior preparation. Such a pilot might feel confident, even cocky, knowing what he wants to do, keenly aware of all the power and complexity at his fingertips, but hardly knowing where to begin. So I put off the experience until a more convenient time, although finding a convenient time is never easy these days. But when I learned that Olivier Lecarme, a Computing Reviews reviewer I admire, had co-authored a new book on GIMP, I got the impetus I needed.

This is a great book, based on years of teaching, that is well organized and executed with an exceptional level of care and detail. It serves extremely well the needs of readers new to image processing in general and to GIMP in particular. It will also be useful to experienced users looking for hard-to-find specifics or wanting to enhance their knowledge of GIMP. The book and the accompanying website are two resources that will be valuable for years to come, until that time when the book itself may need to be brought up to date. The authors assert that the website, http://the-book-of-gimp.blogspot.com/, will be updated as GIMP changes.

GIMP is a freely available, no-cost alternative to some very expensive professional tools with similar functionality. It is not perfect, perhaps, but is always undergoing continuous improvement by dedicated and capable volunteers. The best source of basic information is the GIMP website, http://gimp.org, where you can also obtain copies of GIMP itself for various operating systems, with documentation available in many languages.

This book is hefty, with 656 numbered pages and 18 pages of introductory material. The content is organized into three parts: Part 1, “Learning GIMP,” contains eight tutorial chapters. Part 2, “Reference,” includes chapters 9 through 22, which provide a more discursive and fuller explanation of the underlying image manipulation concepts and techniques and their implementation under GIMP. Part 3 consists of six appendices. A very thorough 22-page index concludes the book. In somebody else’s hands, this could easily have become two books.

The book layout is in full color, with numerous color pictures throughout; even the screen shots are in color. Given the subject of the book, the use of color is both appropriate and impressive; fortunately, because the book is offered only as a paperback, the cost is not exorbitant.

Needless to say, the best way to read this book is while running a copy of GIMP alongside. Most of the pictures in the book, excluding photographs and screen shots, are available on the accompanying website. This is indeed very helpful to readers, since they are thus able to follow the instructions or descriptions given in the book on their own computers and experience the results directly rather than only vicariously through reading. This also allows the reader to do something the authors encourage: to experiment, which is an instructive experience and also incredibly fun to do. Readers will need to exercise some discipline or the hours will fly by unnoticed.

The book was published simultaneously in English and in French. The English is flawless, accurate, clear, and graceful, without a hint of a foreign expression.

I give this superb book my highest recommendation.

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