# Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming by Peter Norvig

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming by Peter Norvig and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a core Common Lisp and AI programming book, valued for how it shows an expert programmer's thinking through working code.

## Why people recommend it

- Expert author with clear exposition (2 comments): "you get to see how an expert programmer thinks, Norvig is among the best expositors of programming and CS topics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49265701)) "Really great book even if don't care about lisp or ai." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47855560))
- Hands-on exercises and complete code (2 comments): "where you will implement a micro-Scheme in Common Lisp itself as an exercise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49257839)) "All the code in the book PAIP by Peter Norvig." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46006921))
- Recommended as a core Common Lisp book (3 comments): "with the introduction to the Symbolic Computation book and Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming you are almost done" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45855732)) "the same with all the good CL books (Intro to Symbolic Computation, Paradigms of AI Programming...)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49104382)) "I'd jump into PAIP, Paradigms of AI Programming." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47823730))

## 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
- [Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastering-emacs.md): 17 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1558601910?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781558601918) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming by Peter Norvig", https://hackerapproved.com/p/paradigms-of-artificial-intelligence-programming/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).