Top Backend books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Backend books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Backend

Understanding the concepts of Backend starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

Noted software expert Robert C. Martin, presents a revolutionary paradigm with Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship. Martin, who has helped bring agile principles from a practitioner’s point of view to tens of thousands of programmers, has teamed up with his colleagues from Object Mentor to distill their best agile practice of cleaning code “on the fly” into a book that will …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The Joy of PHP: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Interactive Web Applications with PHP and MySQL

Have you ever wanted to create dynamic, professional-grade websites but thought programming was too daunting—or just plain boring? Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to expand your web development skills, The Joy of PHP by Alan Forbes makes learning PHP both accessible and fun!

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming

JavaScript lies at the heart of almost every modern web application, from social apps like Twitter to browser-based game frameworks like Phaser and Babylon. Though simple for beginners to pick up and play with, JavaScript is a flexible, complex language that you can use to build full-scale applications.
This much anticipated and thoroughly revised third edition of Eloquent JavaScript dives …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Effective Java (3rd Edition)

Since this Jolt-award winning classic was last updated in 2008, the Java programming environment has changed dramatically. Java 7 and Java 8 introduced new features and functions including, forEach() method in Iterable interface, default and static methods in Interfaces, Functional Interfaces and Lambda Expressions, Java Stream API for Bulk Data Operations on Collections, Java Time API, Collec…

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Microservice APIs

Microservice APIs teaches you practical techniques for designing robust microservices with APIs that are easy to understand, consume, and maintain. You'll benefit from author José Haro Peralta's years of experience experimenting with microservices architecture, dodging pitfalls and learning from mistakes he's made. Inside you'll find strategies for delivering successful API integrations, imple…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems

In this practical and comprehensive guide, author Martin Kleppmann helps you navigate this diverse landscape by examining the pros and cons of various technologies for processing and storing data. Software keeps changing, but the fundamental principles remain the same. With this book, software engineers and architects will learn how to apply those ideas in practice, and how to make full use of…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Additional Backend Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Backend, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Python Crash Course: A Hands-on, Project-based Introduction to Programming

If you've been thinking about learning how to code or picking up Python, this internationally bestselling guide to the most popular programming language is your quickest, easiest way to get started and go! Even if you have no experience whatsoever, Python Crash Course, 2nd Edition, will have you writing programs, solving problems, building computer games, and creating data visualizations in no…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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Senior Software Engineer at GitHub Actions. I build distributed systems and tooling for platform engineering and developer experience, improving how teams deploy and scale cloud-native workloads. I’m especially interested in Go, Kubernetes, networking, containers, and observability. I also maintain a strong interest in emerging technologies like Rust, eBPF, and WebAssembly …

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