Alan Kay's Book Recommendations (Updated for 2026)

1

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering

Frederick P. Brooks Jr.

4.3

Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20

Recommended by Jeff Bezos, Alan Kay, Andrew Chen, and 1 others.

Alan Kay

An early look and experience with timeless truths (and gotchas) from systems building with teams [source]

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

From "The Everything Store", written by Brad Stone “An influential computer scientist makes the counterintuitive argument that small groups of engineers are more effective than larger ones at handling complex software projects. The book lays out the theory behind Amazon’s two pizza teams,” Stone writes. [source]

2

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Jules Verne, William O'Connor

4.1

Go 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Sterling's Illustrated Classics series, and see Jules Verne's fantastic water-world as never before: through more than 70 stunning steampunk images illustrated by the incredible William O'Connor. Originally published in 1870, Verne’s amazing adventure is one of the earliest sci-fi novels ever written—and one of the most popular. Come on board the Nautilus and p

Recommended by Richard Branson, Alan Kay, and Jan Zalasiewicz.

Alan Kay

A formative book in so many ways. [source]

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Jan Zalasiewicz

Re-reading it recently, I was struck not just by its dynamic plot, but also by how much science he smuggled in. [source]

3

The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

René Descartes

3.7

In his monumental 1687 work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, known familiarly as the Principia, Isaac Newton laid out in mathematical terms the principles of time, force, and motion that have guided the development of modern physical science. Even after more than three centuries and the revolutions of Einsteinian relativity and quantum mechanics, Newtonian physics continues to account

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

I have never forgotten the combined shock and thrill of making my way through this in my 20s. [source]

4

Mythology

Edith Hamilton

4.4

The world-renowned classic that has enthralled and delighted millions of readers with its timeless tales of gods and heroes.

Edith Hamilton's mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman and Norse myths that are the keystone of Western culture-the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.

We follo

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

A few more books like this, and by the time I got to first grade I had been ruined for the 'single book - single truth' ideas of school and church. [source]

5

Molecular Biology of the Gene

James D. Watson, Tania A. Baker, Stephen P. Bell, Alexander Gann, Michael Levine, Richard Losick

4.2

Now completely up-to-date with the latest research advances, the Seventh Edition of James D. Watson's classic book, Molecular Biology of the Gene retains the distinctive character of earlier editions that has made it the most widely used book in molecular biology. Twenty-two concise chapters, co-authored by six highly distinguished biologists, provide current, authoritative coverage of an excitin

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

A lovely book to read. [source]

6

Molecular Biology of the Cell

Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter Walter

4.5

Molecular Biology of the Cell is the classic in-dept text reference in cell biology. By extracting the fundamental concepts from this enormous and ever-growing field, the authors tell the story of cell biology, and create a coherent framework through which non-expert readers may approach the subject. Written in clear and concise language, and beautifully illustrated, the book is enjoyable to read,

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

For many years it has been the best single volume narrative of 'life from scratch.' [source]

Cover unavailable

7

LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual

Michael I. Levin, John McCarthy

4.6

The LISP language is designed primarily for symbolic data processing used for symbolic calculations in differential and integral calculus, electrical circuit theory, mathematical logic, game playing, and other fields of artificial intelligence.The manual describes LISP, a formal mathematical language. LISP differs from most programming languages in three important ways. The first way is in the nat

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

I have called this the 'Maxwell’s Equations' of computing, because it presents a very large part of what’s important about programming languages. [source]

Cover unavailable

8

Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines (Automatic Computation)

Marvin Lee Minsky

4.8

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

It is actually a 'math book' — with lots of ideas, theorems, proofs, etc., — but presented in the friendliest way imaginable by a great mind. [source]

Cover unavailable

9

The Organ Builder

Francois Bedos de Celles and Charles Ferguson

4.5

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

A very different kind of book. [source]

10

Art in the Blood (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure)

Bonnie MacBird

4.1

London. A snowy December, 1888. Sherlock Holmes, 34, is languishing and back on cocaine after a disastrous Ripper investigation. Watson can neither comfort nor rouse his friend – until a strangely encoded letter arrives from Paris.

Mlle La Victoire, a beautiful French cabaret star writes that her young son has vanished, and she has been attacked in the streets of Montmartre.

Racing to Paris with Wat

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

My wife completely nailed the Arthur Conan Doyle voice of the characters and narrative, while being able to carry a marvelous story into the much larger realm of the novel. [source]

Cover unavailable

11

Advances in Programming Non-Numerical Applications to Computing Machines

L Fox and L. Fo

4.5

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

One of the books that Bob Barton had us read in his famous advanced systems design class in 1967. [source]

12

The Sciences of the Artificial

Herbert A Simon

4.3

Continuing his exploration of the organization of complexity and the science of design, this new edition of Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence adds a chapter that sorts out the current themes and tools -- chaos, adaptive systems, genetic algorithms -- for analyzing complexity and complex systems. There are updates throughout the book as well. These take into account important

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

A much stronger way to think about computing — and what 'Computer Science' might mean. [source]

Cover unavailable

13

A Programming Language

Kenneth E. Iverson

4.6

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

This has the same thought expanding properties of Lisp. [source]

14

The Art of the Metaobject Protocol

Gregor Kiczales, Jim des Rivieres, Daniel G. Bobrow

4.4

The CLOS metaobject protocol is an elegant, high-performance extension tothe CommonLisp Object System. The authors, who developed the metaobject protocol andwho were among the group that developed CLOS, introduce this new approach toprogramming language design, describe its evolution and design principles, andpresent a formal specification of a metaobject protocol for CLOS.Kiczales, desRivi?res, a

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

A real gem for helping to think about design and implementations. [source]