HACKER Q&A
📣 macco

Do you know any good audio books for developers?


I am curious if you know any good audio book for developers.

The topic of programming usually don't lend itself well for audio books.

I know there are a lot of podcasts about programming out there. Most times I don't think you learn by listening to them.

This is why I am searching for good audio books about programming.


  👤 t3hprofit Accepted Answer ✓
Not specifically about programming, but "Every Tool's a Hammer" by Adam Savage was really good. Tons of good information in here, and it tickles the Mythbusters itch.

Are you looking for books about a programming language? or about methodologies, patters, best practices, etc.

As far as about specific programming languages, personally I think the internet is a far better resource. Books are better for the "Soft"er skills (communication, design, etc)

Here are a few I've enjoyed:

* The Phoenix Project

* Accelerate

* Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

* Rework

Finally, if you've never read "How to win Friends & Influence people", do it now! I'm 34 and for whatever reason put off reading this until last month. I wish I had read that book 10 years ago. I'll definitely be adding it to my re-read list as there is a TON of good advice for building relationships, which is arguably more important than many technical things.


👤 prab97
"Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions" by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths is an interesting listen on Audible. Surprised that nobody has mentioned it here yet. It is a perfect candidate for an audiobook because of lack of code snippets and formulae.

👤 thinkmassive
The Kubernetes Book by Nigel Poulton is the best audiobook adaptation of a technical book that I’ve come across.

https://nigelpoulton.com/blog/f/kubernetes-audiobook


👤 skilesare
War and Peace will help you better understand and deal with the constant change in your requirements and why you are right that management has no fucking clue. Also, great value for your audible credit.

👤 bwaine
The Goal

Novel by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

A business fiction book that describes "The Theory of Constraints" a process initially applied in manufacturing that deals with optimizing production line systems.

I found the sections on identifying a bottle neck in a system, focusing on optimizing the system around this point and re-evaluating system performance afterwards very applicable to software engineering.

Everything from CICD pipelines, the flow of work through your team to or performance optimizing a service oriented architecture.

Very much a fore father to books like Phoenix Project mentioned by others here.


👤 ARandomerDude
"Organon" and "Metaphysics" by Aristotle. I've found that the more I think in Aristotelian terms, the easier it is to design and model my systems.

👤 ckdarby
Software Engineering Daily

Manager Tools

Selfish plug: Launching in 2020 one about working with big data & the challenges that come with it. https://techatscale.com


👤 jdmoreira
Yes!

1. Masters of Doom 2. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution


👤 JCLacivta
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

👤 codebolt
The Soul of a New Machine was a fascinating listen.

👤 btschaegg
There's an audiobook version of "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman.

The book per se doesn't have much to do with programming per se (at least directly), but Norman describes a couple of mechanisms how humans interact with tools and describes some simple formalisms around them. I personally believe that it's a very useful book to have read (or listened to) if you're going to write any software that humans interact with -- be it UI driven or APIs.


👤 KloudTrader
If you are looking for a quick way to convert an ebook into an audiobook, give us a try:

https://auditus.cc


👤 snowAbstraction
I've listen to some of these https://www.manning.com/liveaudio-landing and there are some glitches like some code snippets not being read. The books were not designed for audio so sometimes it is try but you can learn something.

Some of these (maybe all?) are available on audible as well.


👤 frabbit
This is only tangentially related to your question, but you might enjoy it anyway: https://creativecommons.org/2008/01/20/doctorow-completes-re...

👤 Hates_
The Pheonix Project and The Unicorn Project are two good audiobooks centred around Devops and Software Development.

👤 f00_
I enjoyed the audiobook versions (while following along with or having already read the written version) of Grokking Algorithms and Classic Computer Science Problems with Python

👤 shauntrennery
Creative Selection - Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs

https://www.audible.com/pd/Creative-Selection-Audiobook/B07D...


👤 thorlon
The Unicorn Project, The 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey, Permanent Record, Turn the ship around, The Checklist Manifesto,

These are good ones!


👤 royosherove
"Notes to a Software Team Leader" - on Audible, is an older version of my print book "Elastic Leadership": https://www.audible.com/pd/Notes-to-a-Software-Team-Leader-A...

👤 saasdev
I agree that it’s tough to truly grok technical material in purely audio format. With that said, I think you can learn a ton by learning about the history, trends, and other software companies. Here are some of my favorites:

The Dream Machine

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer a Revolution

How the Internet Happened

The Soul of a New Machine

AI Superpowers

Platform Revolution

The Everything Store


👤 slics
1- A sit at the table / Mark Schwartz 2- Influencer 3- Accelerate (devops)

👤 olvy0
Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology, by Ellen Ullman

An autobiography of a developer, and an author, looking back at her life. Narrated by the author. Might not be for everyone, but I really liked it.


👤 naissas
I would check out https://www.sumizeit.com. They have great nonfiction book summaries that you can read or listen to.

👤 throwno
Dreaming In Code by Scott Rosenberg has some relatable war stories.

👤 Just1689
The Phoenix Project

👤 sethammons
The DevOps Handbook and The Phoenix Project

👤 lodgeda
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom. Don't read this before you go to bed though. lolz

👤 dbogue
The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator