I wrote a technical history book on Lisp

Name: I wrote a technical history book on Lisp
Availability: InStock
Author: cdegroot

by cdegroot·Feb 17, 2026·252 points·100 comments

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AI Analysis

●●SolidRabbit HoleNiche Gem

Lisp history with actual code—niche but researched; limited audience beyond 1960s-onward language nerds.

Strengths

•Rare combination: computer history as scholarly narrative with executable code samples, not pseudocode or abstractions
•5-year solo effort shows genuine domain mastery; sourced from primary papers, not blog posts
•Author credible (Emacs/Common Lisp expertise) and humble about limitations; plans for Smalltalk history next

Weaknesses

•Purely educational product: book is static, no interactive component or differentiation from print
•Book-only play: requires purchase to engage; tiny addressable market (maybe 10k Lisp historians worldwide)

Post Description

The book page links to a blog post that explains how I got about it (and has a link to sample content), but the TL&DR is that I could not find a lot of books that were on "our" history _and_ were larded with technical details. So I set about writing one, and some five years later I'm happy to share the result. I think it's one of the few "computer history" books that has tons of code, but correct me if I'm wrong (I wrote this both to tell a story and to learn :-)).

My favorite languages are Smalltalk and Lisp, but as an Emacs user, I've been using the latter for much longer and for my current projects, Common Lisp is a better fit, so I call myself "a Lisp-er" these days. If people like what I did, I do have plans to write some more (but probably only after I retire, writing next to a full-time job is heard). Maybe on Smalltalk, maybe on computer networks - two topics close to my heart.

And a shout-out to Dick Gabriel, he contributed some great personal memories about the man who started it all, John McCarthy.