20+ Best Java Books for Beginners & Experienced

Today there are many online courses, but reading books should be essential to learning. They offer in-depth knowledge as experts in the subject matter write them. Java, as we know it, is an object-oriented programming language designed at Sun Microsystems by James Gosling in 1991. Today, there are several Java Books that you can read to learn Java and enhance your understanding of the subject. According to the data provided by Statista, as of 2023, Java stands among the most used programmed languages worldwide. 30.55% of developers use Java.   

Despite many free sources available on Java, including online courses, blogs, tips, and tutorials, books on Java still have an edge. This is because they are authored by seasoned programmers who possess expertise in the language and can ensure high-quality content. Secondly, these books provide in-depth coverage of the subject matter and prioritise clarity in explanations, thereby making complex concepts more accessible to readers.  This blog will provide you with the best Java Books for beginners and experienced developers who are looking to improve their understanding of the Java language. 

Table of Contents

1) How to choose the best Books to learn Java Programming?  

2) Java Books to read for both beginners and experienced professionals 

    a) Java: A Beginner’s Guide 

    b) Effective Java: 3^rd Edition 

    c) Head First Java 

    d) Grokking the Java Interview 

    e) Cloud-Native Java 

    f) Java Puzzlers

    g) Modern Java Recipes

    h) Core Java SE 9 for the Impatient: 2nd Edition  

    i) Kotlin in Action

    j) Java by Comparison: Become a Java Craftsman in 70 Examples  

    k) Getting Started with Java on Raspberry Pi  

    l) Troubleshooting Java

    m) Java for Dummies

    n) Spring in Action

    o) Clean Code

    p) Test Driven: TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers

    q) Thinking in Java  

    r) Java Concurrency in Practice

    s) Java Generics and Collections

    t) Java Performance From Binu John

    u) Java SE 8 for the Really Impatient

3) Conclusion 

How to choose the best Books to learn Java Programming? 

When a programmer starts learning Java, a few questions pop up, such as “What books should I opt to learn Java?” or “Which is the best Java Book for Beginners? or “Can you help me with some good Books on Java”? Such types of questions tell how necessary Java Books are. Although many available books on Java can improve your skills and knowledge in the subject, reading all of them might not be practically possible. Therefore, we have compiled a list of 20+ Java Books: 

Java Books to read for both beginners and experienced professionals   

We provide you with a collection of the best Java Books that every programmer who wants to learn about Java should read. It does not matter if you have experience in Java Programming or not. You will learn many new things from these books. The books listed below are for both beginners and experienced programmers. They cover many areas, such as core Java Fundamentals, Java collection framework, JVM internals and performance tuning, design patterns, etc. 

Java: A Beginner’s Guide 

GuideA perfect book for beginners by Herbert Schildt. It is considered one of the most comprehensive books for learning Java. Anybody with a basic programming language can benefit from it because Herbert Schildt covers all the Java fundamentals and concepts of core Java. This book also has puzzles and assessments to test a learner’s knowledge. The latest edition of this book has been revised to include Java 11 SE.    

Several questions and answers from professional Java programmers who provide insights related to problems most beginners face is given. In addition, it is also written simply and lucidly for easy learning. 

Effective Java: 3rd Edition 

This book should be one of your first if you have not learned it before. This book by Joshua Bloch is one of the best books for Java developers due to the author’s contribution to the Java collection framework and Java Concurrency package. This book is helpful for a seasoned programmer who is also well-versed in Java Programming. It is also great for programmers who are eager to share their skills and highly contribute to the Java Development Kit (JDK). 

Effective Java has a collection of best practices in Java Programming, from equals, hashcode, serialisation, and static factories to Enums, reflection, generics, and Variable Arguments (Varargs). The 3rd edition was pending before but was released later, which covered JDK 7, 8, and 9 features. From this book, you will learn a lot about how to use Java Programming language and its API properly.

Head First Java 

Head First Java is also termed the bible of Java Programming by most readers and is possibly the best book for beginners. It covers all the essential subjects of Java Programming, such as classes, collections, objects, threads, and language features that include auto-boxing or variable arguments, Enums, and Generics. The information here is presented in a visually engaging manner, which makes it easy for a Java learner to understand. In addition, it contains several interviews with Java Programmers who share their secrets for learning Java so that beginners can grasp it quickly. 

Some advanced sections such as Swing, Networking, and Java IO are also given here, making a complete package for beginner Java. This book should be one of your first Java books if you are starting from scratch. 

Grokking the Java Interview 

Cracking Java interviews is challenging and is one of the main reasons why Java is very vast. To become a decent Java Developer, you need to master many concepts and APIs. 

Many job seekers who are good at topics like Data Structure and Algorithms, SQL, Database, and System Design get rejected in Java Interviews. This is because because they do not spend sufficient time learning core Java concepts and essential APIs and packages such as Object-Oriented Programming, Design Patterns, Multithreading, JVM internals, JDBC, and Java Collection Framework. This gap is filled by reading the book introducing you to interview questions from these topics in Java. 

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Cloud-Native Java 

This Cloud-Native book is a must-read book for experienced Java Programmers. Even though it contains discussions on advanced topics, it can be recommended to every Java Developer. 

Today, the area of Software Development is all about the Cloud, Distributed Architecture, Microservice, etc. This practical guide by both Josh Long and Kenny Bastani shows Java/JVM Developers how to build better and quicker Java applications with the help of Cloud Foundry, Spring Boot, and Spring Cloud. 

Java Puzzlers 

Java Puzzlers by Joshua Bloch and Neal Gafter is another Java Book worth reading for beginners and experienced professionals. This book discusses the corner cases and pitfalls in the Java Programming language. Compared to C++, Java is much safer and more secure, and the JVM protects the programmer from error-prone memory allocation and deallocation. Java still has corner cases that can surprise any experienced Java Programmer. 

This book discusses certain Java pitfalls and explains them in detail. In addition, if you love puzzles, this Java book is good for you. You should try solving the puzzles in this book by yourself and look into explanations to make your knowledge more concrete. 

Modern Java Recipes 

If you are fond of recipe books, this book is good for you. As the title shows, this book consists of simple solutions to severe Java 8 and 9 problems. You will understand how to write codes using Java 8, idioms using expressions of lambda, method reference, and API Stream. This is the perfect book to read if you would like to learn Java 8 and Java 9 by reading tutorials and examples.    

Core Java SE 9 for the Impatient: 2nd Edition 

This book is recommended for those who are in a rush to learn Java. It has been updated recently to cover Java SE9 features, and if a learner is interested in learning Java 9, this should be the first book to be read. This book explains Streams, functional interface, lambda expression, method references, new Java Date Time API, and many other tiny enhancements like joining Strings, repeatable annotations, etc. 

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Kotlin in Action 

Google, in 2017, announced that Kotlin would be the official language for Android development in Google IO, and since then, a lot of interest has been expressed by learners to learn Kotlin. 

Given this context, this book helps  Java Developers to learn other JVM languages like Closure, Groovy, and Scala to become PolyGlot Programmers. Moreover, it provides productivity benefits, and it is  entirely focused on Java. 

Java by Comparison: Become a Java Craftsman in 70 Examples 

This book is another great one for Java Programmers who want to hone their skills in Java and aim to become Java craftsmen. However, this book is not to learn about syntax and semantics but to know how to do real-world stuff better. You must read this book if you want to become a professional Java Developer, which every organisation is looking for. This book is authored by some well-known names on Java and clean code circle: Simon Harrer, Jörg Lenhard, and Linus Dietz. It should not be a surprise to you that the book contains clean code advice. 

One of the best ways to improvise your coding skill is to compare your code with an expert programmer, but not everybody is privileged or gets a chance to do that. Through this book, you have a rare opportunity to start comparing the code you wrote with that of code written by a Java expert and then learn from the mistakes and discoveries.  

Getting Started with Java on Raspberry Pi 

This book by Frank Delporte provides a different approach to learning Java by combining it with Raspberry Pi and electronic components. However, other than discussing brief introductions to Java, JavaFX, and Maven, you can make use of plenty of examples to start using and controlling LEDs, buttons, LCD and LED displays, sensors, and many more. It also includes some proof-of-concept Java applications using Arduino, Spring, H2, Mosquitto, MQTT, Pi4J, etc.   

If you are new to Java,  the given examples will help you learn the language bit by bit. But if you are a Java Programmer with great experience, you will learn how to extend your knowledge and control the things around you with simple and inexpensive components. 

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Troubleshooting Java 

This is a new book for both beginner and experienced Java developers who can read to learn how to troubleshoot Java applications effectively.  It is also good for senior Java developers who want to learn how to debug and optimise JVM applications. 

Java for Dummies

"Java for Dummies" is the best guide for a beginner in Java Programming who wants to learn how to create basic Java objects by simply reusing existing code. 

 The best part is it has so many images and screenshots, which make it very clearhow Java code gets executed on the CPU in a pictorial sense. The book also defines the difference between source code and byte code generated by the compiler.

14) Spring in Action

Spring Framework is a Java platform that offers infrastructure support for developing applications. Spring in Action brings into focus some of the characteristics of Spring that help in building secure Java applications step by step. 

You will learn the best practices from the expert on microservices, reactive programming, RESTful APIs, and service discovery. It also covers the latest Spring best practices, including Spring Boot, for setting up and configuring the applications. Whether you are a beginner in Spring or trying to level up your career, this classic book is your ticket.

15) Clean Code

"Clean Code" is another classic written for Java Programmers. It's open to everyone to learn how to code, but writing clean code is a matter of practice. 

With badly written code, countless hours and important resources can be lost. Hence, this book teaches you how to read code and challenges you to think about what is right and wrong about that code. It is mainly divided into three parts: principles, patterns, and practices of writing clean code. The second part is case studies in cleaning up code, and the third part is the heuristics accumulated while doing the case studies. 

16) Test Driven: TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers

Java Developers can refer to TTD and Test-Driven when they need to write unique automation testing programs. It covers the Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) approach techniques using Java examples applied in a Java EE environment. 

The book is not only a good guide for beginners but also covers examples for advanced TDD developers.

17) Thinking in Java

"Thinking in Java" is considered as the most complete book on Java. It includes everything from the fundamentals to advanced topics. Its latest edition also details Java 8 features. 

The book can be an excellent source for intermediate and advanced developers seeking knowledge of object-oriented programming.

18) Java Concurrency in Practice

This book really helps a person get hands-on with concurrency and multithreading in Java. However, one shouldn't be lured by its Java 5.0 coverage, as most of the content remains relevant and indispensable for every expert Java Developer. 

The only thing with "Java Concurrency in Practice" is that some parts of it may be a bit confusing at first. However, you must be aware that the topics covered in this book, namely concurrency and multithreading, are hard by nature. Hence, you will realise later that the difficult task of going through the book is worth the effort.

19) Java Generics and Collections

The Java Generics and Collection is another great book by Naftalin and Philip Wadler from O’Reilly. Its content on generics and collections are core areas of the Java language. 

This book helps get a strong knowledge of Java collections and Generics from an experienced programmer.

20) Java Performance from Binu John

This is another good book that every senior Java Developer must read. It is all about performance monitoring, profiling, and tools used for Java performance monitoring. This is not a typical programming book; rather it provides important details about JVM, Garbage Collection, Java Heap Monitoring, and profiling applications. 

Both beginners and intermediate programmers can benefit from this book. However, it is good to have some experience in Java under your belt before reading it. Moreover, this is the best Java Book on performance monitoring.

21) Java SE 8 for the Really Impatient

This is one of the best books for learning Java 8. If you have less time and you want to learn all the essential things about Java 8, this is the book to refer to.

 It describes lambda expression, streams, functional interface, method references, new Java Date Time API, and many other small enhancements, such as joining Strings and repeatable annotations.

Conclusion

After reading this blog, you will know aboutsome interesting and useful Java Books for both beginner and experienced Java Developers.  With these books, you can be provided with up-to-date knowledge and improve your understanding of new features. 

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