Java Books – Top 15 Books for Beginners to Expert!

1. Head First Java

Author – Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates
Latest Edition – 2nd Edition
Publisher – Shroff/O’Reilly

Many programmers believe that this is the best book to learn Java from scratch. And it is completely “from scratch”, that is, it is suitable for the beginners. Affectionately it is referred to by readers as Java Programming “bible”.

It is one of the Best Selling Java books for all time. Head First Java is specially made for Java beginners. This book is a brain-friendly guide that uses Vintage Pictures, puzzles, code exercises, brainteasers, etc. for effective learning.

Unlike other programming books, you will find this book very interesting to read. It is a must-have book for every Java learner to understand OOPS concepts.

2. Java: A Beginner’s Guide

Author – Herbert Schildt
Latest Edition – Eighth Edition
Publisher –McGraw Hill Education

As the name suggests, The Beginner’s Guide is a good book for someone with basic knowledge of Java programming language. It covers all the basic concepts of Core Java.

It has a more traditional presentation of the material than that in “Head First Java”, and it is most suitable for someone who is looking to learn Java “from scratch”.

“A Beginner’s Guide” is best for someone who has at least studied programming (for example, at a university), or forgot it long ago.

3. Java: The Complete Reference

Author – Herbert Schildt
Latest Edition – Eleventh Edition
  Publisher –McGraw Hill Education

Java: The Complete Reference covers the entire Java language. It seems to include every topic that beginner, intermediate and expert level programmers must know, ranging from all its most basic topics like syntax, keywords, and basic programming principles to all the complex topics like the Java API library, the concurrency utilities, Swing, JavaBeans, servlets, etc.

It also covers how to develop, compile, debug, and run Java programs.

If you are an intermediate or experience-holder in Java and want to study the basics of it again, then this book is the best way to go as it is well-structured and covers detailed explanations of every topic of Java with real-world examples for better understanding.

4. Effective Java

Author – Joshua Bloch
Latest Edition – Third Edition
Publisher – Addison Wesley

If you have understood the Java basic concepts and now want to seek some practical guidance, then Effective Java is the book meant for you! Effective Java does a great job by offering 78 best practices that you as a Java developer must follow for making your code better.

It also covers many advanced topics like enums, generics, annotations, etc. The book explains all the topics in a distinct and clear way with the help of many examples to understand them better.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate learner or even experienced Java developer, there are many new knowledgeable concepts in Effective Java. The context of the latest edition of this book is built around Java 7, 8, and 9.

5. Thinking in Java

Author – Bruce Eckel
Latest Edition – Fourth Edition
Publisher – Prentice Hall

The book “Thinking in Java” is a complete reference that will properly guide you to write Java programs. This book explains each and every concept with excellent and clear examples that will definitely help you get familiar with the working of Java.

Thinking in Java begins with an introduction to object-oriented programming for both beginners and experts. It also covers advanced topics like Design patterns, Introduction to XML, Concurrency, etc.

This book proves to be a relevant source of knowledge for you even after years of studying and coding in Java. This book contains more than 500 Java programs, that are rewritten for the latest edition of Java in this book.

If we try to compare the books Effective Java and Thinking in Java, we can say that Thinking in Java is somewhat more loyal for beginners, while Effective Java is more suitable for experts in Java.

6. Core Java Volume I – Fundamentals

Author – Cay S. Horstmann
Latest Edition – Eleventh Edition
Publisher – Prentice Hall

Core Java Volume I – Fundamentals is a Java reference book that offers a detailed explanation of various features of Core Java, with topics ranging from the basics like variables in Java, data structures in Java, Java objects and classes to the advanced topics like objects, exception handling, interfaces, generics, collections, lambda expressions, Swing design, concurrency, and functional programming.

It also covers everything from syntax to multithreaded programming, software localization, and working with XML.

Significant highlights of the book include simple language, conciseness, and detailed examples. The latest edition of the Core Java Volume I – Fundamentals covers Java SE 9, 10 & 11. The book helps Java programmers develop an ability to write highly robust and maintainable code.

If you want to understand the fundamentals of Core Java, then you should definitely go for Core Java Volume I. This book gives you a piece of in-depth knowledge about Java and API with the help of lots of examples and easy-to-understand codes.

7. Java: Programming Basics for Absolute Beginners

Author – Nathan Clark
Latest Edition – First Edition
Publisher – Createspace Independent Pub

Java: Programming Basics for Absolute Beginners is an excellent book that provides a complete introduction to Java that will help you to write problems within a very short time.

This book explains the key concepts of Java with the help of 57 practical examples. With each concept, this book provides one or more examples to explain the topic in order to make it easy to understand.

Examples are broken down into their basic workings and provide the output for you to compare to your own results.

As the name suggests, Java: Programming Basics for Absolute Beginners is specifically written for newbies and learners in Java.

This book explains each and every topic with a step-by-step guide through the programs along with an illustration of the internal workings of the JDK (Java Development Kit) and JRE (Java Runtime Environment).

There are many basic topics mentioned in the book that will help you to learn Java from scratch like: Basic program structure, Writing Your First Program, Step-By-Step, Which IDE to choose, etc.

It also includes topics like Data Types in Java,  Java Variables, Java Operators, Type Conversion, Loops, and explains them with the help of multiple examples.

8. Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies

Author – Dr. Barry A. Burd
Latest Edition – Seventh Edition
Publisher – For Dummies

The Book Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies written by Dr. Barry A. Burd is an easy to understand Java programming book.

If you want to get familiar and become a master in the world’s most popular programming language, then Java For Dummies is the best choice for you.

This book basically focuses on reusing the existing code, and also shows you the way to create Java classes, objects and methods and also the way to work with them.

It covers topics like variables, flow control in a program with loops and decision-making statements.

Also, this book is updated with Java 9 so that you can learn the language with various samples. In this 560 page book, you will also learn the step-by-step installation of the Eclipse IDE.

This book also covers many questions and exercises for practicing the concepts and making them stronger.

9. Java: A Step-by-Step Guide for beginners (The book for the absolute beginner)

Author – Daniel Bell
Latest Edition – First Edition
Publisher –Guzzler Media LLC

The Book Java: A Step-by-Step Guide is specifically written for beginners to help in getting familiar with some basics of Java Fundamentals.

This book guides the reader to learn Java concepts in a quick and easy manner. It also provides the basic concepts along with the deep knowledge about object-oriented programming in Java. This book covers everything from installing JDK to a variable to an operator to an access modifier.

It really helps you to transform from a beginner to a professional in Java. It guides you to develop a complete Java application on your own.Any learner or beginner in Java or someone who needs to enhance his Java programming skills can undoubtedly opt for this book.

It is also ideal for professionals in data science, and computer programming, professors, lecturers or tutors and students, and academicians, especially those focusing on Java programming, computer science, and software development.

10. Learn Java in 1 Day: Complete Beginners Guide

Author –Krishna Rungta
Latest Edition – First Edition
Publisher – Guru99

The book Learn Java in 1 Day guides you to learn the basic concepts of Java which are helpful for Java programming, in an easy way. This book explains the concepts of OOPs in a very efficient manner.

Also, it covers the basic Java coding concepts like decision-making, arrays, looping, methods, variables, lambda expressions, etc. It also briefly introduces the various frameworks like Java Swing, Java SE8, Java Eclipse, etc.

Each chapter in the book consists of several “items” in the form of a short, standalone essay for Java Web Development. The explanations for each item help to understand, in detail, what to do, what not to, and why to do.

After reading this book, you will be very familiar with Java concepts and a mid-level skill of Java programming.

11. Mastering Java Machine Learning

Author – Dr. Uday Kamath, Krishna Choppella
Latest Edition – First Edition
Publisher –Packt Publishing

One of the most famous languages used by data scientists is Java. We know that Java is the basis of most of the Hadoop ecosystem. The book Mastering Java Machine Learning is written to provide comprehensive knowledge in machine learning with a focus on both the theoretical and practical aspects.

The book contains more than 10 real-world case studies highlighting various techniques of machine learning, preparing the user for the practical, real-world use of tools and data analysis. This book also provides 15 open-source Java tools in a wide range of techniques, with code and practical usage.

This book covers the basic concepts related to machine learning like linear algebra, statistics, text-mining, classification, clustering, anomaly detection, stream learning, active learning, semi-supervised learning, deep learning, and big data, etc.

If you are familiar with Java, this book will definitely help you to become a skillful practitioner in Machine learning and data science.

12. AI Algorithms, Data Structures, and Idioms in Prolog, Lisp, and Java

Author –George F. Luger, William A. Stubblefield
Latest Edition – Sixth Edition
Publisher –Pearson Publications

This Java book is useful to learn Artificial Intelligence Programming along with many Programming Languages like Prolog, Lisp, and Java.

This book covers multiple topics in an exclusive manner. It also guides you not only through Artificial Intelligence but also on how to build algorithms and data structures on your own to develop AI-based software applications.

Moreover, It covers many important topics like a simple production-like system based on natural language parsing and logic-based learning.

13. Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP

Author –Joel Murach, Michael Urban
Latest Edition – Third Edition
Publisher – Mike Murach & Associates

The book Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP make it easier for any programmer to start with web programming in Java. This book shows the process of installing the Tomcat server and the NetBeans IDE and working on them.

This book also explains topics that are very important in building a secure web application.It guides how to work with SSL connections, JavaMail, encryption, authentication, filters.

Also, it covers chapters on how to build a web application with the help of sessions, cookies, JavaBeans, and various custom tags.It covers the concepts of JDBC or JPA to get a connection with the MySQL database.

Also, it gives an introduction to JSF to sharpen your concepts of Java web programming. It covers every skill that you need in order to develop standard Java web applications using the main components like servlets and JSP (Java Server Pages).

14. High-Performance Java Persistence

Author –Vlad Mihalcea
Latest Edition – First Edition
Publisher – VLAD MIHALCEA

High-Performance Java Persistence is a book written for those who want to master their skills for developing applications in Java.

This book is specifically written for those who frequently need to interact with a relational database. The book offers a lot of information on general database fundamentals along with JDBC and Hibernate.

This book explains the internal working of most of the Java data access frameworks. It also covers topics like connection management, concurrency control mechanisms, batch updates, etc.

15. Introduction to Programming in Java: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Author –Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne
Latest Edition – Second Edition
Publisher – Addison-Wesley Professional

This book is an example-driven guide that focuses on the most useful features of Java and makes Java programming easy for every student in the field of computer sciences and engineering.

This book provides some practice problems for a better understanding of each topic. In addition to that, it also gives a summary after each chapter and many additional exercises along with solutions are also given in this book to master the concepts.

It explains the basics of Java, like variables, data types, conditional statements, loops, arrays, etc. It also covers concepts like functions, sound, and graphics, libraries, search/sort algorithms, data structures, in detail.