I have read MANY books about programming, game development, and many other technologies in software development, and I have found this book to be both informational and useful for developers of all levels. It focuses on BlitzMax, Blitz Research's cross platform programming language and compiler showing how to develop many different types of games. Most game development books offer a couple of games (at best) from which you'll learn the contents of the book. This book contains several DIFFERENT style games.
You are walked through the basics of game design, and eventually brought into the more complex aspects of game design and development. Sound, Graphics, and Input devices (mouse, keyboard, and joystick/pads!) are all covered in here. Advanced OOP (Object Oreinted Programming) is even discussed! (about 20 pages worth)
The print is VERY easy to read with its nice large font and huge pages being the size of a piece of printer paper! If you'd like to start learning game programming, and don't mind learning a new language, this is a great book to start with. Pick up a copy of BlitzMax while you're at it tho, otherwise it's useless :)