Reading notes · No paywall

The tech library

The books that shaped me as a developer, distilled into honest notes: the ideas that stick, a rating out of 10, and what I really think.

These are the books behind my path — from physics teacher to senior developer.

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✦ The synthesis The developer's great book Not a list: the one thread tying all the notes together, from bits to the AI era. The whole craft, in one read. Read the synthesis →
Cover of Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship Clean Code Robert C. Martin · 2008 The book that taught a generation of developers that code is read ten times more often than it is written. 6.8/10
Cover of Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming Eloquent JavaScript Marijn Haverbeke · 2024 The most honest JavaScript introduction, freely available online. Updated for ES2024. 8.8/10
Cover of Pro Git Pro Git Scott Chacon, Ben Straub · 2014 The official Git reference, free and translated. From first commits to the guts of .git. 8.6/10
Cover of Fluent Python: Clear, Concise, and Effective Programming Fluent Python Luciano Ramalho · 2022 The book that turns a dev who writes Python into a dev who thinks in Python. 8.2/10
Cover of Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems Designing Data-Intensive Applications Martin Kleppmann · 2017 The complete map of data systems: SQL, NoSQL, replication, streaming. The absolute must-read. 8.4/10
Cover of Effective TypeScript: 83 Specific Ways to Improve Your TypeScript Effective TypeScript Dan Vanderkam · 2024 83 concrete items to go from "it compiles" to "I master the type system". 8.8/10
Cover of Learning Go: An Idiomatic Approach to Real-World Go Programming Learning Go Jon Bodner · 2024 Modern idiomatic Go, generics included: thinking in Go instead of translating from another language. 8.4/10
Cover of The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win The Phoenix Project Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford · 2013 The novel that converted a generation to DevOps: a sinking IT project, and how to save it. 8.2/10
Cover of Grokking Algorithms, Second Edition Grokking Algorithms, Second Edition Aditya Y. Bhargava · 2024 Algorithms in drawings: binary search, hash tables, Dijkstra and dynamic programming without a single tear. 8.4/10
Cover of Software Architecture: The Hard Parts — Modern Trade-Off Analyses for Distributed Architectures Software Architecture Ford, Richards, Sadalage, Dehghani · 2021 Microservices, data, sagas: no best practices, only trade-offs, and a method to weigh them. 7.8/10
Cover of Head First Design Patterns Head First Design Patterns Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson · 2021 The 23 GoF patterns made digestible: illustrations, humor, and examples that finally stick. 8.8/10
Cover of PHP 8 Objects, Patterns, and Practice: Mastering OO Enhancements, Design Patterns, and Essential Development Tools PHP 8 Objects, Patterns, and Practice Matt Zandstra · 2021 The only complete OOP + design patterns reference for PHP, updated for PHP 8. 7.8/10
Cover of Web Application Security: Exploitation and Countermeasures for Modern Web Applications Web Application Security Andrew Hoffman · 2024 Recon, offense, defense: web security told from both sides of the firewall. 7.8/10
Cover of AI Engineering: Building Applications with Foundation Models AI Engineering Chip Huyen · 2025 Building applications on LLMs: RAG, agents, evaluation. The emerging canon of AI engineering. 8.2/10
Cover of Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps Accelerate Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim · 2018 Four years of research proving which practices make teams perform. Data, not opinions. 7.4/10
Cover of A Philosophy of Software Design, 2nd Edition A Philosophy of Software Design, 2nd Edition John Ousterhout · 2021 The counterweight to Clean Code: deep modules, simple interfaces, by a Stanford professor. 8/10
Cover of CSS in Depth, Second Edition CSS in Depth, Second Edition Keith J. Grant · 2024 Understanding CSS instead of fighting it: the cascade, layers, container queries and OKLCH color. 8.8/10
Cover of Test-Driven Development: By Example Test-Driven Development Kent Beck · 2002 The founding TDD text by Kent Beck: test first, code second, fear gone. 7.6/10
Cover of Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming Python Crash Course Eric Matthes · 2023 The world's best-selling Python introduction: the basics, then three real projects (game, data viz, web). 8.2/10
Cover of The Design of Web APIs, Second Edition The Design of Web APIs, Second Edition Arnaud Lauret · 2025 The complete method for designing clear web APIs from the point of view of whoever consumes them. 8.6/10
Cover of Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow Team Topologies Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais · 2019 Four team types, three interaction modes: designing the org for flow, through Conway's law. 8.2/10
Cover of Web Accessibility Cookbook: Creating Inclusive Experiences Web Accessibility Cookbook Manuel Matuzović · 2024 Ready-to-use accessible components: the most recent and practical a11y book. 8.8/10
Cover of The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) The Mythical Man-Month Frederick P. Brooks Jr. · 1995 1975, and still true: adding developers to a late project makes it later. 7.8/10
Cover of The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery (20th Anniversary Edition) The Pragmatic Programmer David Thomas, Andrew Hunt · 2019 The developer's pocket mentor: 100 tips across 53 topics, rewritten for the cult classic's 20th anniversary. 8/10
Cover of Write Great Code, Volume 1: Understanding the Machine (2nd Edition) Write Great Code, Volume 1 Randall Hyde · 2020 What the machine really does with your variables: floats, caches, pipelines, explained without assembly. 7.2/10
Cover of Write Great Code, Volume 2: Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level (2nd Edition) Write Great Code, Volume 2 Randall Hyde · 2020 What every construct in your language costs once compiled: switches, loops, objects, strings. 6.6/10
Cover of Clean Architecture: A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design Clean Architecture Robert C. Martin · 2017 One dependency rule and the database becomes a detail again: the blueprint for your code. 7.2/10
Cover of Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software Design Patterns Gamma, Helm, Johnson, Vlissides · 1994 The 23 names that gave the trade its vocabulary: you speak GoF without knowing it, like prose. 7.2/10
Cover of Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Don't Make Me Think, Revisited Steve Krug · 2014 The first law of web usability fits in four words, and the whole book reads in one short-haul flight. 8.4/10
Cover of Programming Pearls, Second Edition Programming Pearls, Second Edition Jon Bentley · 2000 The art of defining the right problem: a fifteen-minute phone call beats a week of code. 7.8/10
Cover of Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, 2nd Edition Refactoring Martin Fowler · 2018 The trade's core move, finally named: ~60 safe transformations, tiny steps, tests at every step. 8.2/10
Cover of Working Effectively with Legacy Code Working Effectively with Legacy Code Michael Feathers · 2004 Legacy code = code without tests: the definition that stings, and the techniques to get out without a full rewrite. 7/10
Cover of Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software Domain-Driven Design Eric Evans · 2003 The book that named the pieces: Ubiquitous Language, Bounded Context, Aggregate — the shared vocabulary of the whole profession. 7/10
Cover of Exploring CQRS and Event Sourcing: A journey into high scalability, availability, and maintainability with Windows Azure Exploring CQRS and Event Sourcing Dominic Betts, Julian Dominguez, Grigori Melnik, Fernando Simonazzi, Mani Subramanian · 2012 The practical A-to-Z guide: CQRS, Event Sourcing, Process Managers and Sagas explained on a real project, with honest trade-offs and hard-won lessons. 8.2/10
Cover of Understanding Eventsourcing: Planning and Implementing scalable Systems with Eventmodeling and Eventsourcing Understanding Eventsourcing Martin Dilger · 2024 From a price tag in a box to advanced read model patterns: the guide that covers Event Sourcing and Event Modeling together, warts and all. 7.5/10
Cover of The little Eventmodeling Book: Typical Eventmodeling Questions - quickly answered The little Eventmodeling Book Martin Dilger · 2025 The Q&A guide to decode Event Modeling: the 3 system building blocks, the completeness check, the pure Command Handler — and 8 steps to get your team started. 6/10
Cover of Domain-Driven Design Reference: Definitions and Pattern Summaries Domain-Driven Design Reference Eric Evans · 2015 The official Domain-Driven Design glossary: all of Evans' patterns in sixty pages, freely available online. 6.4/10
Cover of Learning Domain-Driven Design: Aligning Software Architecture and Business Strategy Learning Domain-Driven Design Vlad Khononov · 2021 The book that finally makes Domain-Driven Design practical: from subdomain to code, by way of Event Sourcing, CQRS and sagas. 8.6/10
Cover of Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation Continuous Delivery Jez Humble & David Farley · 2010 The book that made deployment an engineering discipline: an automated pipeline, boring releases, from commit to production without the pain. 7.8/10
Cover of Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams Peopleware Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister · 1999 The book that proved, with data, that projects fail for human reasons, not technical ones. 8.2/10
Cover of Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction Code Complete Steve McConnell · 2004 The practitioner's encyclopedia of software construction: evidence-based practices to tame complexity, proven across thousands of projects. 7.4/10
Cover of High Performance Browser Networking High Performance Browser Networking Ilya Grigorik · 2013 The book that taught web developers that latency, not bandwidth, decides how fast their pages feel. 8/10
Cover of Computer Networks: A Systems Approach Computer Networks Larry Peterson & Bruce Davie · 2020 The reference textbook, now open source, that explains why the Internet is shaped the way it is and why it holds up. 7.6/10

One book at a time, starting with the classics. The goal isn't to replace reading, but to extract the marrow, and help you decide which books deserve your hours.

Not sure where to start? Three comparisons by theme, each with a reading order: Event Sourcing and CQRS, clean code and refactoring, DevOps and engineering teams.