Dreaming in Code
Scott Rosenberg
11 people recommended it in 7 threads, 2009–2025.
What people on Hacker News said
This book is, so far, the closest I've come to finding a "spiritual successor" to The Soul of a New Machine by Kidder.
Dreaming In Code by Scott Rosenberg is a good counterpoint to inspiring tech origin stories: legendary coders coming together to build an amazing product and… basically failing.
It recounts the history of the team (which included Mitch Kapor of Lotus fame) who built Chandler.
It tells the story of a software team which has everything, money, talent, time... but doesn't find how to materialize their idea.
That's the book I would describe as "the best book about getting a product out the door", or not, in this particular case.
It was a bitter story of an idealistic Open Source project failing miserably.
Dreaming In Code by Scott Rosenberg has some relatable war stories.
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things 2025 · 3 recommendations
- Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018? 2018 · 3 recommendations
- Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books? 2020 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Do you know any good audio books for developers? 2019 · 1 recommendation
- Best development book I've read, has no code in it 2014 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: What are your favorite books of 2010? 2011 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Favorite true story tech book? 2009 · 1 recommendation