About livros.dev
We count recommendations instead of giving opinions.
Lists of “books every developer should read” are usually one person’s taste. This is the opposite: we read what thousands of people wrote in open conversations and show the books that keep being cited, year after year.
- 104,738,688comments in the communities
- 176,523that may cite a book
- 4,272conversations about books
- 50books in the ranking
The idea
A good book for programmers isn’t this month’s bestseller. It’s the one that comes back whenever someone asks “what should I read?”, five, ten, twenty years later.
That’s why the ranking looks at two things at once: many people, the distinct people who cite the book, and many years, the years in which it shows up. Each person counts once per book, however often they repeat it.
How to read the strip
Across the site, every book has a strip with one square per year, from 2007 to 2026. The darker the square, the more mentions that year.
- Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs726 people · cited in all 20 years
- The Three-Body Problem192 people · cited since 2014, 13 years
No mention → the book’s own peak. “Recent” means mentions from 2023 on.
How we count
- We collect the conversations
From each community, the replies in threads about books and the comments with recommendation phrases.
- We find the books
For now, by searching for the title in the comment text.
- We group the editions
Open Library links editions and translations: “Código Limpo” and “Clean Code” count as one book.
- We rank them
First by how many communities cite the book, then by distinct people, then by years with mentions.
What the numbers can’t tell yet
This is a prototype. Searching by title finds people who mention a book, even to criticize it. Until the next step, read the ranking as “most talked about”, not “most loved”.
It knows
- How many distinct people cite each book
- In which years and in which communities
- Which editions and translations are the same work
It doesn’t know yet
- Whether a citation is a recommendation or a critique
- Short or common titles that confuse the search
- Conversations outside the collected communities
The next step is to read every comment with Claude, to tell people who recommend a book apart from people who just mention it.
Where the data comes from
- Hacker News170,091 comments read · 50 books
- TabNews3,196 comments read · 30 books
- Lobsterscoming soon
- Stack Exchange3,236 comments read · 33 books
- dev.tocoming soon
- Open Libraryworks, editions and translations ↗
Quoted excerpts are short and always link to the original comment. Data from , 3 communities collected.
Questions
- Why isn’t my favorite book here?
- The ranking shows the 50 books cited most in the collected communities. Niche books, very new ones or books cited by a nickname may be left out until the reading with Claude.
- Do I need an account?
- No. The site is open, with no login and no account. We count visits with Vercel Web Analytics, without cookies and without storing who you are.
- Does the Amazon link change the order of the books?
- Never. The ranking comes only from the conversations. When a free and legal version exists, it comes first.