Person
Every book Boris Cherny recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Boris Cherny has recommended or discussed 2 books on podcasts, as of March 4, 2026.
- Boris Cherny has talked about books on 2 podcasts, as of March 4, 2026.
- Those books came up in 2 episodes, as of March 4, 2026.
- The 2 books Boris Cherny has mentioned in the most episodes, as of March 4, 2026: Functional Programming in Scala and Accelerando.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Boris Cherny aired on March 4, 2026.
Updated
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Boris Cherny appears on, in one place — not just one.
Boris Cherny appeared on The Peterman Pod in the episode titled Boris Cherny (Creator of Claude Code) On How His Career Grew, broadcast on December 15, 2025. During the podcast appearance, Cherny discussed his background, career development, and technical experiences. Among the topics covered in the conversation, Cherny shared a specific book recommendation with the audience. He recommended the book Functional Programming in Scala, authored by Paul Chiusano and Runar Bjarnason. Explaining the reasoning behind this choice, Cherny stated that it remained the single technical book he would recommend to everyone because it had the greatest impact on him as an engineer. Although he noted that listeners might not necessarily use Scala in their daily work today, he emphasized that the book teaches a specific way of thinking about coding problems that proved to be exceptionally valuable. The discussion highlighted how foundational architectural concepts and functional programming paradigms can fundamentally shape an engineer's problem-solving methodology, regardless of the specific programming language ultimately utilized in professional software development environments. Cherny's insights during the podcast offered listeners a direct look into the resources that shaped his technical foundation and professional mindset throughout his career in technology.
Books recommended by Boris Cherny
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Functional Programming in Scala
Functional Programming in Scala by Paul Chiusano and Runar Bjarnason is a technical guide that teaches functional programming principles and encourages readers to think deeply in types.
Recommended“And then on the technical side, I would strongly recommend functional programming in Scala. Even if language choice just doesn't matter as much anymore, I think there is this arts to functional programming that just teaches you how to code better.”
Where to get it
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Accelerando
Accelerando by Charles Stross is a hard science fiction novel that explores a rapidly changing future characterized by advanced technologies like intelligent wearables and radical shifts in human society.
Recommended“For people that are new to sci-fi and you want like a little bit like harder sci-fi I really love Accelerando by Stross. This is a book I would totally recommend. It's like essentially the product roadmap for the next 50 years.”
Where to get it
Books Boris Cherny wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building Claude Code with Boris Cherny | The Pragmatic Engineer | 2026-03-04 | 2 |
| Boris Cherny (Creator of Claude Code) On How His Career Grew | The Peterman Pod | 2025-12-15 | 1 |
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“At some point I kind of fell down this rabbit hole. I wrote this like I wrote I wrote a book about, you know, a programming language. TypeScript.”
“I've gone down a Cixin Liu rabbit hole. So, he's the Three-Body Problem guy but he actually has like a lot of other really good books. I really love his short stories.”