My favorite two computer books are “Starting Forth” and “Let over Lambda”. It’s something about the language and the approach I like.

funny timing, let over lambda has been published for free fully now

https://letoverlambda.com/

> 2026 update: Let Over Lambda was published in 2008, to align with the 50th anniversary of Lisp's invention in 1958. A lot has changed since then, in both Lisp and programming practice in general. Although my thinking and opinions have evolved since, I still believe the book holds up well as a tutorial and explanation of why Lisp so special. Going forward, the entire book is free to read online (HTML, PDF). Happy lisping!

Someone downvoted this comment and I wonder why.

- They didn't like my comparison of Brodie's book to Barski's - They think Land of Lisp is a great book to learn Lisp from - They don't think I should share other people's impressions - They knew it was available from the author's site?

I have borrowed this one thru ILL but only finished a chapter or two (one on comparing different Lisps). And the library that held it seems to have lost it, and there are no other copies in that ILL league. :-(

Someday I'd hope to buy a used copy, but all of these books keep getting rarer and more valuable.

Maybe not so hard to find! (worth a look and check out the music video):

http://landoflisp.com/

comment from pg: "Turns out the border between genius and insanity is a pretty cheery place"

I'm surprised nobody ever mentions pg's CL book. It has his characteristic easy reading style, is a nice compact size, and used copies are easy to come by.

ANSI Common Lisp by Paul Graham

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL7944696W/ANSI_Common_Lisp

As someone who don't really like everything borderless these days I love this. Well done!

Why these days? what changed?

Everything went borderless

I want something like Os/2 Warp. Something with a design principle other than “make it look slick and hide stuff”. Look up CUA too.

I felt the same about GPT-5.2 on High. It did all I asked and it did it good and cheap. Too bad it’s no longer an option at all.

I wonder if this is something the iOS Facebook app also does? It constantly pauses my Apple Music playing. Soooo irritating.