Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#1

Post by xupybd » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

I listen to audiobooks when driving, mowing the lawn or other manual tasks.

I've found some great books such as clean architecture and the pragmatic programmer.

I've also found some terrible books such as grokking algorithms.

I'm sure this community will have some recommendations to help avoid the terrible books.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#2

Post by chana_masala » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:58 AM UTC

I agree that the Pragmatic Programmer is well done in it's audio form, and I also agree that Grokking Algorithms is terrible.

I am currently listening Designing Data Intensive Applications and it's phenomenally done - the author clearly worked with the narrator to adapt the content to audio format, and the narrator seems to have experience or familiarity with the subject because he pronounces the technical jargon very naturally.

I hope to find other software related audiobooks as good as DDAI is.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#3

Post by snarkypixel » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 7:36 PM UTC

Biographies of developers or successful/failed projects are great to listen to I.e. Masters of Doom and the like.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#4

Post by billti » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 7:45 PM UTC

I'm currently listening to "Designing Data-Intensive Applications" [1] on my commute and it really does work well as an Audio Book (I can attest to the positive reviews). Highly recommended if you are dealing with any requirements in the space (scale, replication, consistency, SQL vs NoSQL, etc.)

[1] https://www.audible.com/pd/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applicat...

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#5

Post by thomasthomas » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 7:46 PM UTC

Never Lost Again: The Google Mapping Revolution That Sparked New Industries and Augmented Our Reality

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#6

Post by MathCodeLove » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 7:49 PM UTC

I loved "Algorithms to Live By" by Brian Christian and tom Griffiths. It's not quite as focused on the technical side of things as the books you listed, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#7

Post by swyx » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 8:05 PM UTC

My careers book focuses on the non technical side of technical careers and has an audio book! https://www.learninpublic.org/

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#8

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 8:05 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#9

Post by b33j0r » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 8:11 PM UTC

snarkypixel wrote: post #3

Biographies of developers or successful/failed projects are great to listen to I.e. Masters of Doom and the like.

Wil Wheaton reads Masters of Doom, almost worth it for his impressions alone. “Sid Meier’s Memoir” is great along the same genre.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Audio Book Recommendations

#10

Post by dolmen » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 8:24 PM UTC

Changelog.com has multiple weekly podcasts about programming: http://changelog.com/podcasts

As a Go programmer I recommend Go Time: http://changelog.com/gotime There is a huge archive of past episodes (last episode is #188) that are as interesting (or more) than the latest ones.