# Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen

17 Hacker News commenters recommended Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a practical, well-regarded guide for learning Emacs, faster than fumbling around, though one reader found its advice to learn internals first off-putting.

## Why people recommend it

- Good for learning Emacs (4 comments): "reading the tutorial, Mickey's book, or the official manual is way faster than fumbling around" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591783)) "informative and inspirational resources like Mastering Emacs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48262179)) "which is an amazing resource to learn the basics and beyond" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48858438))
- Praised as great and nice (3 comments): "I bought a copy of Mickey's book, and it's great, but "read about the inner workings of an editor before you use it" is horrible UX." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591243)) "The book “Mastering Emacs” is nice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45833113)) "The "Mastering Emacs" is great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45833933))
- Useful for experienced users too (2 comments): "its philosophy and the information it provides is still very relevant for any graybeard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48586058)) "which is an amazing resource to learn the basics and beyond" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48858438))

## What people warn about

- Advises learning internals before use (1 comments): "I bought a copy of Mickey's book, and it's great, but "read about the inner workings of an editor before you use it" is horrible UX." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591243))
- Lacks design pattern guidance (1 comments): "which gives me a good idea for some stuff... but I really would like to have good ideas for the right kind of design patterns" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49427245))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crafting-interpreters.md): 60 recommend
- [Clean Code by Robert C. Martin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clean-code.md): 31 recommend
- [The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pragmatic-programmer.md): 28 recommend
- [How to Design Programs by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-design-programs.md): 18 recommend
- [Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers](https://hackerapproved.com/p/working-effectively-with-legacy-code.md): 16 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1320673910?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781320673914) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastering-emacs/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).