Ask news.YC: For the lisp experts - tell me how you learned the language.

In my case, none of the previously mentioned books. Too complex, with too many assumptions about what you know.

Specially PCL, it helps to feel several 'whoaaa lisp can do that!' moments, but not really to learn the small basic things that are common in lisp.

Instead, I learnt with COMMON LISP: An Interactive Approach downloadable for free here: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/WWW/faculty/shapiro/Commonlis...

It takes your hand and teaches slowly, but with a solid foundation. If you do al exercises (and you should), you will implement one or two of the very complex projects showcased in On Lisp, but with the difference that you will understand the code from top to bottom (since you wrote it).

Take into account that I have not read "The Little Schemer", so take it out from the list of lisp books I criticise.