# Lisp in Small Pieces by Christian Queinnec

4 Hacker News commenters recommended Lisp in Small Pieces by Christian Queinnec and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for teaching how to build a Lisp compiler without heavy focus on lexing and parsing, with an excellent bibliography. One critic prefers SICP instead.

## Why people recommend it

- Teaches building a Lisp, skips parsing (1 comments): "Great high level compiler book that teaches you how to build a Lisp and doesn't get bogged down in lexing and parsing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47784383))
- Covers alternative computation models (1 comments): "one is about actual Lisp compilers, the other alternative computation models" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47802833))
- Excellent bibliography and citations (1 comments): "The bibliography and citation is excellent." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48728337))
- Part of respected Lisp book school (1 comments): "As a lisper, i like PLAI and all the other books from the same school" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48796984))

## What people warn about

- Critic prefers SICP instead (1 comments): "Instead of Lisp in Small Pieces I'd recommend SICP instead." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47795659))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools by Aho, Sethi and Ullman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/compilers-principles-techniques-and-tools.md): 23 recommend
- [Modern Compiler Implementation by Andrew Appel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/modern-compiler-implementation.md): 9 recommend
- [Writing a C Compiler by Nora Sandler](https://hackerapproved.com/p/writing-a-c-compiler.md): 8 recommend
- [Engineering a Compiler by Cooper and Torczon](https://hackerapproved.com/p/engineering-a-compiler.md): 6 recommend
- [Compiler Construction by Niklaus Wirth](https://hackerapproved.com/p/compiler-construction.md): 4 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521545668?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780521545662) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Lisp in Small Pieces by Christian Queinnec", https://hackerapproved.com/p/lisp-in-small-pieces/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).