Mastering Emacs
Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersenby Mickey Petersen
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 115 programming books by recommenders
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.
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.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 94%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 17 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good for learning Emacs
“reading the tutorial, Mickey's book, or the official manual is way faster than fumbling around”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs, how it all started (for me)” “informative and inspirational resources like Mastering Emacs”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “I keep bouncing off the Scheme language” “which is an amazing resource to learn the basics and beyond”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “In Emacs, Everything Looks Like a Service” - Comment from 1 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?”
Praised as great and nice
“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.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs, how it all started (for me)” “The book “Mastering Emacs” is nice.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “How I am deeply integrating Emacs” “The "Mastering Emacs" is great.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “How I am deeply integrating Emacs” Useful for experienced users too
“its philosophy and the information it provides is still very relevant for any graybeard”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving” “which is an amazing resource to learn the basics and beyond”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “In Emacs, Everything Looks Like a Service”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Advises learning internals before use
“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.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs, how it all started (for me)” Lacks design pattern guidance
“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”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “What's new in Emacs 31.1”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Mastering Emacsby Mickey PetersenThis page | 17 | 1 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
19 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“all of them are certainly lovely”
“only if you're time is worthless”
“It's a gem and I think I'd still be on Vim or VSCode without it!”
“It is what got Emacs to stick for me.”
“My book is of course an option also, but it costs money.”
“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”
“which is an amazing resource to learn the basics and beyond”
“reading the tutorial, Mickey's book, or the official manual is way faster than fumbling around”
“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.”
“its philosophy and the information it provides is still very relevant for any graybeard”
“informative and inspirational resources like Mastering Emacs”
“I've been unable to get any to acquire Mastering Emacs for example.”
“the "Mastering Emacs" book”
“The "Mastering Emacs" is great.”
“I strongly recommend the book "Mastering Emacs" by Mickey P.”
“The book “Mastering Emacs” is nice.”
“It's a goldmine for what you're after”
“I also highly recommend the resources at https://www.masteringemacs.org”
“is where I wish I had started”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.