Summary
Hacker News is a forum spawned from the Y Combinator startup incubator.
Hacker News book threads happen every couple weeks, with commenters adding their favorite books in response to questions like:
- What books have you learned the most from?
- What are your favorite technical books?
- What software engineering books should every developer read?
Below is a list of books that Hacker News commenters mention over and over as their favorites.
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems
by Martin Kleppman
Recommended: 7 / 10
Designing Data-Intensive Applications is always mentioned by the Hacker News technical audience. In DDIA, you will learn about highly technical details like database internals, the intricacies of system clocks, and data replication.
The E-Myth Revisited
Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
by Michael Gerber
Recommended: 8 / 10
The E-Myth Revisited particularly popular with the developer turned consultant crowd on Hacker News, those developers looking to start and grow their own company. If you want to learn about startup growth, check out High Growth Handbook.
The Manager's Path
A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth & Change
by Camille Fournier
Recommended: 9 / 10
With so many software engineers on Hacker News, you’ll find many developers who have tried their hand at engineering management. In summary The Manager’s Path lays out the roles and responsibilities as your career grows, from software engineer through engineering manager, director of engineering, and CTO.
Staff Engineer
Leadership Beyond the Management Track
by Will Larson, CTO of Calm
Recommended: 8 / 10
The Staff Engineer book by Will Larson sets expectations around technical leadership. It’s a nice counterpart to The Manager’s Path, which focuses on people management.
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy
The Difference and Why It Matters
by Richard Rumelt, Emeritus Professor of Business & Society at the UCLA
Recommended: 8 / 10
Startup founders and product managers on Hacker News rate Good Strategy/Bad Strategy highly. As an engineering leader, I also found this book instructive for developing technical strategies.
Working Effectively With Legacy Code
by Michael C. Feathers
Recommended: 7 / 10
How do you improve legacy code? Many Hacker News readers, especially engineers joining a new company with existing codebases, need help understanding and refactoring and this book is here to help.
High Output Management
by Andy Grove, 3rd Employee and former CEO of Intel
Recommended: 9 / 10
Andy Grove’s classic book on management is a common read for first-time engineering managers learning how to navigate their new job and increase developer productivity.
The Phoenix Project
A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford
Recommended: 10 / 10
The Phoenix Project and its counterpart The Unicorn Project are novels about IT, demonstrating the application of concepts from books like Accelerate and The DevOps Handbook. Hacker News readers highly recommend all four books but if you’re short on time, The Phoenix Project is the best place to start.
System Design Interview
An Insider's Guide
by Alex Xu
Recommended: 7 / 10
How do you prepare for a system design interview? Practice designing complex systems! System Design Interview book is great for both interview candidates, interview teams, or any developer building complex and distributed systems.
Never Split the Difference
Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
by Chris Voss, Former FBI Hostage Negotiator
Recommended: 9 / 10
Salary negotation skills aren’t something software engineers typically excel at, but Never Split the Difference has guided many Hacker News readers through these difficult conversations.
