Lisp Books on My Bookshelf

Essentials:

• Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp - This book is a tremendous way to learn CL! I wish there were more programming books like it.
• On Lisp: Advanced Techniques for Common Lisp - This book is the best book I've seen for really showing what makes Lisp different from other programming languages. There is an online version available on Paul Graham's site.
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - This book can make you think about programming in a different way. There is a companion instructor's manual too. The book is available online and there are online versions of the Sussman & Abelson lectures too.

Learning Lisp:

• The Little Schemer - Takes a bit of getting used to the style of this book, but it helped me get out of my C mindset.
• ANSI Common Lisp - Good introduction to CL. I don't like it as much as Paul's On Lisp, but that book was a hard one to beat.
• Common Lisp the Language, 2nd Edition - Pre-ANSI reference to CL. There is an online verion available.
• Object-Oriented Common Lisp - Despite the title, this is really a general introduction to CL. It was one of the books I used to learn Lisp and I still think it is a good text for learning CL.
• The Seasoned Schemer - Takes "The Little Schemer" further in teaching you to "think about computing".
• The Scheme Programming Language - Good introduction to R5RS Scheme. There is an online verion available.
• Essentials of Programming Languages, 2nd Edition - Some people swear by this book. I never got through it. Uses Scheme.

Artificial Intelligence:

• Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach - The ultimate AI book! Takes an agent-oriented approach throughout the book to introduce different AI techniques. Once you've read PAIP and decided that you're still interested in AI, this book is the one to read.
• Genetic Programming: Vols I, II & III - The first is the best book on Genetic Programming, Volume II adds ADF's (Automatically Defined Functions). Volume III is mostly just a series of case studies.
• Building Problem Solvers - Very readable introduction to problem solvers in Lisp.
• Common Lisp Modules: Artificial Intelligence in the Era of Neural Networks and Chaos Theory - Small book with lots of concise AI example code.
• Artificial Intelligence Programming - Haven't read it but it was cheap!
• Introduction to Artificial Intellignece - Another one I haven't read but got used for a great price.
• Object-Oriented Programming for Artificial Intelligence: A Guide to Tools and System Design - Another cheapie, I read a few chapters but got bored.

CLOS:

• Object-Oriented Programming in Common Lisp: A Programmer's Guide to CLOS - Good intro to CLOS programming.
• The Art of the Metaobject Protocol - When you want to move past, extend or change CLOS (or just understand it better), this is the book. There is a partial online version available.
• Object-Oriented Programming: The CLOS Perspective - Collection of articles about OO using CLOS .
• Handbook of Programming Languages, Vol. IV: Functional and Logic Programming Languages - Has a nice introductory chapter on CLOS.

Lisp Implementation:

• Lisp In Small Pieces - Best book on implementing Lisps.
• Anatomy of Lisp - If Lisp In Small Pieces wasn't around, this would be the book on implementing Lisp. Unfortunately, it is a bit dated now.
• Performance and Evaluation of Lisp Systems - Describes a methodology for improving Lisp performance. There is an online version available.
• Garbage Collection - Not specifically Lisp-oriented, but good coverage of different GC techniques.
• Advanced Lisp Technology - Focus on recent research on Lisp in Japan.

Lisp Machines & Historical:

• Patterns of Software: Tales from the Software Community - Nice combination of Design Patterns and Lisp history. There is an online version available.
• The Brain Makers - Very good history of the Lisp Machine companies.
• Lisp Lore: A Guide to Programming the Lisp Machine - Gives a good feel for what it was like to develop on lispm's.
• The Architecture of Symbolic Computers - A couple of chapters on lispm's.
• Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - Covers the early days at MIT.
• Artificial Life: A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology - Historical work that covers a lot of the early AI & Artificial Life work.
• The AI Business - Another book that covers some of the early AI work.
• The Connection Machine - Describes the massively parallel computer that Daniel Hillis & team developed.
• Aaron's Code: Meta-Art, Artificial Intelligence and the Work of Harold Cohen - Using Lisp to paint pictures. There is a good article about Cohen's work on Franz's site. There is also a Lisp screen-saver that you can download that generates unique art.

Other Lisps:

• An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp - Great intro & very readable. There are online versions too.
• Writing GNU Emacs Extensions - This book and the previous one were the ones I used to learn Emacs Lisp with.
• The GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, Vol 1 & Vol 2 - Good references. There are online versions too.
• The T Programming Language: A Dialect of Lisp - A dialect of Scheme. Paul Graham seems to have preferred it to CL.

Lisp-Related Books:

• Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - I loved this book when I first read it. The first copy I bought still sits on my bookshelf, having survived moves from New Zealand to Western Samoa to Boulder.
• Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern - Another great Hofstadter book.