# Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann

37 Hacker News commenters recommended Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Widely recommended guide to distributed systems, databases and data-intensive design, valued for depth, structure and topics that stay relevant.

## Why people recommend it

- Recommended to developers and junior engineers (6 comments): "DDIA has been a book I pull out often when guiding leaders and members of my teams" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395021)) "I'm just encouraging the devs on my team to read designing data intensive apps" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46902490)) "Designing Data Intensive Applications for most company programs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49103099))
- Explains transactions, isolation and ACID (3 comments): "There is a whole chapter in Designing Data Intensive Applications dedicated specifically to handling atomic transaction concurrency issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49962637)) "It goes into not only different isolation levels, but also some ambiguity in the traditional ACID definition." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47113434)) "I studied relational algebra on my own, plus a few chapters from Kleppmann's Data-Intensive Applications book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48141880))
- Depth and context hard to find elsewhere (3 comments): "you can't easily find corresponding material online that provides the same level of depth, structure, and context" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48275840)) "covers exactly the topics you are asking about and references many blog posts" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46368705)) "it is a great intro into real problems and real solutions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172567))
- Still useful on rereads (3 comments): "The first edition was very good, a second one came out recently." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48698265)) "Evergreen computer science topics don't go out of date though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49230098)) "It's my second time and I felt I understand better this time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49904687))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mythical-man-month.md): 56 recommend
- [A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-philosophy-of-software-design.md): 28 recommend
- [Code Complete by Steve McConnell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/code-complete.md): 14 recommend
- [The Architecture of Open Source Applications by Amy Brown and Greg Wilson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/architecture-of-open-source-applications.md): 13 recommend
- [Design Patterns by Gamma, Helm, Johnson and Vlissides](https://hackerapproved.com/p/design-patterns.md): 12 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1491903112?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781491903117) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann", https://hackerapproved.com/p/designing-data-intensive-applications/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).