Jon Peddie Books

“Couldn’t put it down.” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy (Goodfellas) and Casino The extraordinary life of a legendary crime boss who refused to squeal unfolds through the eyes of an award-winning New York Newsday reporter, who interviewed him shortly before his death at age 103. John “Sonny” Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at fourteen and became a “made man” in the Colombo crime family, specializing in racketeering, fraud, and loansharking. His criminal career spanned over eight decades, during which he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for robbery but continued to conduct business from behind bars. This true story reveals shocking secrets, including the personal interest FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had in him, how he managed numerous affairs, and how he earned millions for the mob despite spending a third of his life in prison. Franzese inadvertently disclosed some of his worst crimes to a “friend” wearing a wire, yet he maintained the Mafia’s code of silence. Authorities believe he may have murdered or ordered the murders of forty to fifty people, earning respect from law enforcement and reverence from fellow gangsters. He outlived many of his contemporaries, passing away in 2020 of natural causes—a rarity in the Mafia. Through exclusive interviews, this account presents the bold, brutal, and blood-spattered life of John “Sonny” Franzese, a must-read for those intrigued by Mafia history.

Providing a comprehensive overview, this book explores the benefits and opportunities of ray tracing while addressing its challenges. It is designed for readers without programming or optics expertise, making advanced concepts accessible to a wider audience.

This book provides an in-depth exploration of the field of augmented reality (AR) in its entirety and sets out to distinguish AR from other inter-related technologies like virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR). The author presents AR from its initial philosophies and early developments, to its current technologies and its impact on our modern society, to its possible future developments; providing readers with the tools to understand issues relating to defining, building, and using our perception of what is represented in our perceived reality, and ultimately how we assimilate and react to this information. Augmented Reality: Where We Will All Live can be used as a comprehensive guide to the field of AR and provides valuable insights for technologists, marketers, business managers, educators and academics who are interested in the field of augmented reality; its concepts, history, practices and the science behind this rapidly advancing field of research and development.

This is the first book in a three-part series that traces the development of the GPU. Fifteen companies worked on building the first fully integrated GPU, some succeeded in the console, and Northbridge segments, and Nvidia was the first to offer a fully integrated GPU for the PC.

This is the second book in a three-part series that traces the development of the GPU, which is defined as a single chip with an integrated transform and lighting (T&L;) capability.

This third book in the three-part series on the History of the GPU covers the second to sixth eras of the GPU, which can be found in anything that has a display or screen. The GPU is now part of supercomputers, PCs, Smartphones and tablets, wearables, game consoles and handhelds, TVs, and every type of vehicle including boats and planes. In the early 2000s the number of GPU suppliers consolidated to three whereas now, the number has expanded to almost 20. In 2022 the GPU market was worth over $250 billion with over 2.2 billion GPUs being sold just in PCs, and more than 10 billion in smartphones. Understanding the power and history of these devices is not only a fascinating tale, but one that will aid your understanding of some of the developments in consumer electronics, computers, new automobiles, and your fitness watch.