Founders & technologists
Books recommended by Jeff Atwood
Co-founder of Stack Overflow and Discourse
Programmer and writer of the Coding Horror blog who co-founded Stack Overflow and the Discourse forum software.
On lists:Authors
Computing & softwareDesign, cities & engineeringBusiness & investingPsychology & decisionsScience
Photo: Long Zheng from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This is a selection of sourced recommendations, not a complete list of everything Jeff Atwood has read or praised. How we choose.
Recommendations
Books Jeff Atwood recommends
15 books from 2 sources. Each one links to the place where Jeff recommended it.
Recommended Reading for Developers
First published in 2004; the page says it was last updated in September 2025.
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Code Complete
Explicit recommendationFirst on his developer reading list; his blog's name comes from this book.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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The Mythical Man-Month
Explicit recommendationHe calls it arguably the only classic book in the field of software development.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Don't Make Me Think
Explicit recommendationHe calls it the single best book on usability he has read.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Rapid Development
Explicit recommendationOn his developer reading list — really a book about why software projects fail.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Peopleware
Explicit recommendationOn his developer reading list, with a note that it assumes more workplace control than most developers have.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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The Design of Everyday Things
Explicit recommendationOn his developer reading list — design lessons from everyday objects.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
+1 other recommender: Tiago Forte
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About Face
Explicit recommendationHe calls it fantastically useful and says it improves with each edition.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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The Pragmatic Programmer
Explicit recommendationOn his developer reading list; he rates it above Programming Pearls because it is less focused on code.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Programming Pearls
Explicit recommendationOn his developer reading list, though he notes some chapters can be skipped.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Explicit recommendationOn his developer reading list, one of several Edward Tufte books he includes.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
Recommended Reading for Developers
Jeff Atwood's long-running list of the books he thinks every software developer should read.
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The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
Explicit recommendationOn Jeff Atwood's Coding Horror list of books he recommends to every software developer.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Designing Web Usability
Explicit recommendationOn Jeff Atwood's Coding Horror list of books he recommends to every software developer.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Visual Explanations
Explicit recommendationOn Jeff Atwood's Coding Horror list of books he recommends to every software developer.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Envisioning Information
Explicit recommendationOn Jeff Atwood's Coding Horror list of books he recommends to every software developer.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
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Beautiful Evidence
Explicit recommendationOn Jeff Atwood's Coding Horror list of books he recommends to every software developer.
Recommended Reading for Developers Blog postblog.codinghorror.com
Cross-recommendations
Who agrees with Jeff
People in the directory who recommended at least one of the same books.
See something wrong? Suggest a correction.





