# Starting Forth by Leo Brodie

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Starting Forth by Leo Brodie and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for charming illustrations and an intuitive introduction to Forth; one caveat is the dated 1979 FIG-Forth dialect, so people point to the ANS edition.

## Why people recommend it

- Get the ANS edition (3 comments): "Learn Forth with the Starting Forth book but for ANS forth" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945421)) "Get Starting Forth but the ANS version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46922243)) "Starting Forth, ANS version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47823604))

## 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/0138429227?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780138429225) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Starting Forth by Leo Brodie", https://hackerapproved.com/p/starting-forth/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).