
Ask HN: Do you know any good audio books for developers? - macco
I am curious if you know any good audio book for developers.<p>The topic of programming usually don&#x27;t lend itself well for audio books.<p>I know there are a lot of podcasts about 
programming out there. Most times I don&#x27;t think you learn by listening to them.<p>This is why I am searching for good audio books about programming.
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t3hprofit
Not specifically about programming, but "Every Tool's a Hammer" by Adam Savage
was really good. Tons of good information in here, and it tickles the
Mythbusters itch.

Are you looking for books about a programming language? or about
methodologies, patters, best practices, etc.

As far as about specific programming languages, personally I think the
internet is a far better resource. Books are better for the "Soft"er skills
(communication, design, etc)

Here are a few I've enjoyed:

* The Phoenix Project

* Accelerate

* Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

* Rework

Finally, if you've never read "How to win Friends & Influence people", do it
now! I'm 34 and for whatever reason put off reading this until last month. I
wish I had read that book 10 years ago. I'll definitely be adding it to my re-
read list as there is a TON of good advice for building relationships, which
is arguably more important than many technical things.

~~~
ryall
I was about the same age when I read HTWF&IP. It's a shame because it's a
really good book about, basically, how to be a good person.

I think the reason we put it off for so long is that they couldn't have titled
it worse if they'd called it "How To Be An Asshole"

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prab97
"Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions" by Brian
Christian and Tom Griffiths is an interesting _listen_ on Audible. Surprised
that nobody has mentioned it here yet. It is a perfect candidate for an
audiobook because of lack of code snippets and formulae.

~~~
dundercoder
2nded. Amazing and engaging book

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thinkmassive
The Kubernetes Book by Nigel Poulton is the best audiobook adaptation of a
technical book that I’ve come across.

[https://nigelpoulton.com/blog/f/kubernetes-
audiobook](https://nigelpoulton.com/blog/f/kubernetes-audiobook)

~~~
mstipetic
I can also recommend this one, works surprisingly well

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skilesare
War and Peace will help you better understand and deal with the constant
change in your requirements and why you are right that management has no
fucking clue. Also, great value for your audible credit.

~~~
ElFitz
But which one? There are more than one translation out there

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bwaine
The Goal

Novel by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

A business fiction book that describes "The Theory of Constraints" a process
initially applied in manufacturing that deals with optimizing production line
systems.

I found the sections on identifying a bottle neck in a system, focusing on
optimizing the system around this point and re-evaluating system performance
afterwards very applicable to software engineering.

Everything from CICD pipelines, the flow of work through your team to or
performance optimizing a service oriented architecture.

Very much a fore father to books like Phoenix Project mentioned by others
here.

~~~
mrefish
Having recently listened to The Goal on Audible, it may be worth noting that
it has multiple voice actors as well as ambient background sounds. Definitely
adds some color to an already impressive novel.

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ARandomerDude
"Organon" and "Metaphysics" by Aristotle. I've found that the more I think in
Aristotelian terms, the easier it is to design and model my systems.

~~~
pyuser583
Really!? My undergraduate degree was in philosophy. I spent a lot of time
studying Aristotle’s “Metaphysics” (which isn’t about metaphysics). How does
it apply to software development?

Nichomachean Ethics are very helpful.

But don't read Aristotle's actual work unless you have a philosophy
background. Way too dense and complicated.

Try "Aristotle For Everyone" by Mortimer J. Adler, and then "Aristotle" by
David Ross.

~~~
ARandomerDude
System modeling is frequently the task of sorting the universal from
particular, the substance from the accidents, etc. This is especially true in
the object-oriented world. Functional programming and system integration are
essentially answering the questions "what causes this?" and "what ought to
cause this?"

I'm not a fan of the Nichomachean Ethics. I'm of the Augustinian school.

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jdmoreira
Yes!

1\. Masters of Doom 2\. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution

~~~
thrower123
_Stay Awhile and Listen_ is also a very good one in this vein.

~~~
t3hprofit
this looks great! I've been looking for another book. just grabbed it on
audible.

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ckdarby
Software Engineering Daily

Manager Tools

Selfish plug: Launching in 2020 one about working with big data & the
challenges that come with it.
[https://techatscale.com](https://techatscale.com)

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btschaegg
There's an audiobook version of "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman.

The book per se doesn't have much to do with programming per se (at least
directly), but Norman describes a couple of mechanisms how humans interact
with tools and describes some simple formalisms around them. I personally
believe that it's a very useful book to have read (or listened to) if you're
going to write _any_ software that humans interact with -- be it UI driven or
APIs.

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KloudTrader
If you are looking for a quick way to convert an ebook into an audiobook, give
us a try:

[https://auditus.cc](https://auditus.cc)

~~~
thoman23
I completely understand that you need to start with epub books. But do you
have longer term plans to partner with the proprietary ebook providers? There
are a lot of older Kindle eBooks without audio versions that I would love to
listen to during my commute.

~~~
KloudTrader
We do! Currently we are working with web serial authors to help create
narration for their works. Support for azw, mobi formats are coming soon.
There is a newsletter box near the bottom. If you subscribe, we will let you
know once we launch support for those formats.

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JCLacivta
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

~~~
t3hprofit
I've read this twice. Enjoyed it both times and have referred frequently back
to it. I second this wholeheartedly

Also, random side note, here's an interesting talk given by Ashley Williams on
Rust that refers to the book: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn-1so-
Ibsg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn-1so-Ibsg) (Zen and the Art of
Convincing Your Company to Use Rust)

------
snowAbstraction
I've listen to some of these [https://www.manning.com/liveaudio-
landing](https://www.manning.com/liveaudio-landing) and there are some
glitches like some code snippets not being read. The books were not designed
for audio so sometimes it is try but you can learn something.

Some of these (maybe all?) are available on audible as well.

------
codebolt
The Soul of a New Machine was a fascinating listen.

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frabbit
This is only tangentially related to your question, but you might enjoy it
anyway: [https://creativecommons.org/2008/01/20/doctorow-completes-
re...](https://creativecommons.org/2008/01/20/doctorow-completes-reading-of-
sterlings-the-hacker-crackdown/)

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Hates_
The Pheonix Project and The Unicorn Project are two good audiobooks centred
around Devops and Software Development.

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f00_
I enjoyed the audiobook versions (while following along with or having already
read the written version) of Grokking Algorithms and Classic Computer Science
Problems with Python

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shauntrennery
Creative Selection - Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of
Steve Jobs

[https://www.audible.com/pd/Creative-Selection-
Audiobook/B07D...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Creative-Selection-
Audiobook/B07D416JT3?pf_rd_p=6a5ce8e4-798e-4a64-8bc5-71dcf66d673f&pf_rd_r=KH9QDTN523GYRG8TE9NN&ref=a_lib_c4_libItem_B07D416JT3)

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royosherove
"Notes to a Software Team Leader" \- on Audible, is an older version of my
print book "Elastic Leadership": [https://www.audible.com/pd/Notes-to-a-
Software-Team-Leader-A...](https://www.audible.com/pd/Notes-to-a-Software-
Team-Leader-Audiobook/B078TPYF47)

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saasdev
I agree that it’s tough to truly grok technical material in purely audio
format. With that said, I think you can learn a ton by learning about the
history, trends, and other software companies. Here are some of my favorites:

The Dream Machine

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer a Revolution

How the Internet Happened

The Soul of a New Machine

AI Superpowers

Platform Revolution

The Everything Store

------
slics
1- A sit at the table / Mark Schwartz 2- Influencer 3- Accelerate (devops)

~~~
shiv86
Who is the author for Influencer

~~~
KevinEldon
Kerry Patterson

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olvy0
Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology, by Ellen Ullman

An autobiography of a developer, and an author, looking back at her life.
Narrated by the author. Might not be for everyone, but I really liked it.

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naissas
I would check out [https://www.sumizeit.com](https://www.sumizeit.com). They
have great nonfiction book summaries that you can read or listen to.

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throwno
Dreaming In Code by Scott Rosenberg has some relatable war stories.

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thorlon
The Unicorn Project, The 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey,
Permanent Record, Turn the ship around, The Checklist Manifesto,

These are good ones!

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Just1689
The Phoenix Project

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sethammons
The DevOps Handbook and The Phoenix Project

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lodgeda
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom. Don't read this before you go to bed
though. lolz

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dbogue
The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator

