The best reference books, according to hackers
15 reference books were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
Top pick
The most recommended reference book with the badge. Each figure is 2 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Well-written, readable articles
People recommend Britannica for well-written, carefully checked articles and a readable online format, though critics say it is out of date, lightly cited and paywalled.
We may earn a commission. It never changes the order.
We may earn a commission. It never changes the order.
All 15 reference books, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Encyclopaedia Britannicaby Jan Morris | 29 | 8 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| 2 | 507 Mechanical Movementsby Henry T. Brown | 12 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| 3 | The Ashley Book of Knotsby Clifford Ashley | 8 | 1 | 89% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | World Book Encyclopediaby World Book | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | The Atlas of Middle-earthby Karen Wynn Fonstad | 5 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 4 | Trucker's atlasby K G Langenscheidt and American Map | 5 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Unix Power Toolsby Jerry Peek, Tim O'Reilly and Mike Loukides | 4 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Whole Earth Catalogby Stewart Brand | 4 | 2 | 67% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Green's Dictionary of Slangby Jonathon Green | 4 | 1 | 80% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | The Old Farmer's Almanacby Yankee Publishing Inc and Old Farmer's Almanac Staff | 4 | 4 | 50% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 11 | Roget's Thesaurusby Peter Mark Roget | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 11 | Roger's Profanisaurusby Roger Mellie | 3 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 13 | 1001 Movies to See Before You Dieby Steven Jay Schneider | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 13 | Foundations of Mechanical Accuracyby Wayne Moore | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 13 | Large Language Modelsby John Atkinson-Abutridy | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same reference book in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to reference books that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.