# The Programmer's Brain by Felienne Hermans

3 Hacker News commenters recommended The Programmer's Brain by Felienne Hermans and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its summary of research on how programmers read, understand and write code, presented in a readable form.

## Why people recommend it

- Summarizes research on programmer cognition (1 comments): "This view is corroborated by the research summarized and presented in the programmer's brain by Felienne Hermans." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46695368))
- Used as a go-to reference (1 comments): "The Programmers Brain book was my go to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47802470))

## 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/1617298670?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781617298677) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Programmer's Brain by Felienne Hermans", https://hackerapproved.com/p/programmer-s-brain/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).