Let Over Lambda

I just get into flow state when working in lisp, more than any other language family. Running and writing code blended together with a connected REPL is like being jacked into the machine. Imaging how much of an improvement a connected debugger is over reading through logs. This is that much of an improvement over a connected debugger. The code is live running right in the editor all the time. More like magic than debugging. And then macros, both anaphoric and hygenic, that let you write your own language inside the lisp itself. They should be used extremely sparingly, but when used at the right time it can literally change the language itself to better suit your need. And then the code itself being a data structure, it all feels so connected, integrated, and unified. I have never had as much fun as I do when working in Lisps. I haven't done it for money in a while, but maybe one day again. Let Over Lambda and SICP are what really got me turned into a lifetime lisp lover. By the end of LoL you make a version of Forth inside of lisp! https://letoverlambda.com/

I loved Let over Lambda, but I always hesitate to recommend it, any more than I'd recommend TAOCP Semi-Numerical Algorithms, although that totally blew my mind. Even just the first chapter or two; I don't care that much about class implementations, but the power and the elegance and bootstrapping so high from such simple beginnings of lexical closures, all a true pleasure of life to learn such things.

* Getting Things Done by David Allen This book taught me so much about how to manage my life, and taught me how to review my own systems. * SICP, On Lisp, and Let over Lambda It's hard to pick one exactly, because really it's about opening your mind to radically different programming paradigms than what's popular. Learning lisp well enough gives you confidence to attempt to create new programming languages, through code generation, or even mentally thinking about an API as a language rather than just a series of functions.

LOL (Let Over Lambda) is fun to read if you are not try to get the information in your head as fast as possible but rather read two or three pages a day very carefully and feel how your brain bends :) It is a hardcore technical book, but the language (Common Lisp) will not make you more money in 2020 or boost your new startup faster to market. So, read it to entertain your brain, it is worth it! https://letoverlambda.com/

Maybe not best in the "build a project" genre, but about (Common) Lisp, you have Land of Lisp - in which you build several small games and sort of reuse some code between chapters, and Let Over Lambda, which does build its further code on top of earlier code, although it's more of an exercise in bending Lisp to your will than a well-defined project. I recommend both books; I found them very good.

Last one was probably Let Over Lambda. One of the few programming books I've read cover to cover.