The best technical books, according to hackers

16 technical books recommended in Hacker News comments over the past year, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one.

All technical books

Linux From Scratch by the LFS ProjectBuilds a deep understanding of how Linux components fit together by compiling everything by hand. Critics say it is more cookbook than explanation.72recommend
Game Engine White Papers: Commander KeenPeople praise it as a valuable retro game code analysis with fine content. Critics say the site design looks copied and it reuses Fabien's material without clear credit.13recommend
Offline password cracking book by BojtaRecommended for technically accurate, interesting coverage of offline password cracking, from an author who spent four years on it. Critics note verbose prose and grammar errors.10recommend
FreeBSD Handbook by FreeBSD Documentation ProjectNewcomers to FreeBSD use it as the official onboarding guide, and people praise its documentation as well organized and easy to search.9recommend
WebRTC for the Curious by Sean DuBoisA free online book that explains the underlying workings of WebRTC, helping readers understand the protocol and debug problems more easily.5recommend
Hands-On Large Language Models by Jay Alammar and Maarten GrootendorstUp-to-date guide with examples across major foundation model providers, plus practical chapters on structured outputs and evaluation.5recommend
Self-Hosting in ProductionReaders recommend it as a deep, practical guide to self-hosting production apps, with real code examples. Optional payment. Caveat: PDF text does not reflow when zooming.4recommend
Git from the Bottom Up by John WiegleyPeople recommend it for demystifying Git's internal data structures and commands, leaving a clearer understanding of how Git works. It is quick to read.4recommend
A Guide to CubeSat Mission and Bus DesignApproachable coverage of key CubeSat technical analyses. Caveat: US-centric and some advice tied to one kit.4recommend
Inference EngineeringRecommended as a free, practical guide to running AI models in production, grounded in real experience. Critics say some questions are opinion rather than fact and one chart has problems.3recommend
Linux Pocket Guide by Daniel J. BarrettPeople recommend it as a compact introduction for Linux beginners, praising its pocket size and recent new edition.3recommend
Engineering for Bounded CognitionRecommended for its concept-mapping method, which people say is the fastest way to share and validate conceptual understanding. The most common caveat is that the prose is hard for people to read.3recommend
Kalman and Bayesian Filters in Python by Roger LabbePeople recommend it for building intuition on Kalman filters and Bayesian estimation, with tuning, design and pitfalls covered. A critic says free resources cover the topic too.3recommend
AI Engineering by Chip HuyenRecommended as a fundamental introduction to the AI engineering space for people starting out.2recommend
Game Engine Black Book by Fabien SanglardPeople recommend it as a deep dive into 1990s game engine technology, with the author praised for careful historical preservation of how classic games worked.2recommend
The DevOps Handbook by Gene KimPeople recommend it as a practical reference they return to often, with copies heavily annotated and marked up by readers. No critics were recorded.2recommend