David Herman's sharp, practical book full of gotchas and deep insights into the language. Learn JavaScript's quirks, best practices, and how to write code that actually works.

Effective JavaScript is the book I wish I'd read before spending months debugging subtle type coercion bugs. Herman's 68 items cover everything from scoping gotchas to prototype chains, and each one includes code examples that show both the wrong way and the right way. The chapter on functions and closures helped me understand why my event handlers were capturing the wrong values, and the section on objects and prototypes clarified inheritance in a way that MDN never quite managed. Some items feel dated—the book predates ES6, so there's no discussion of let/const or arrow functions—but the core concepts still apply. The item on avoiding the with statement is less relevant now, but the principles around scoping and variable hoisting are timeless. I keep it on my desk when mentoring junior developers because it explains JavaScript's weirdness in a way that sticks. The writing is dense but precise—you'll need to work through the examples, not just skim them.

David Herman's practical guide to JavaScript's quirks and best practices. Learn scoping, closures, prototypes, and how to write code that actually works.

Effective JavaScript: 68 Ways to Harness JavaScript

Effective JavaScript: 68 Specific Ways to Harness the Power of JavaScript

Douglas Crockford's short, opinionated guide to JavaScript's best features. Still deeply useful despite being written for an older version of the language—the principles remain timeless.

JavaScript: The Good Parts is the book that made me understand why people either love or hate JavaScript. Crockford's thesis is simple: ignore the bad parts, use the good parts. The chapter on functions—first-class objects, closures, modules—shows how JavaScript's functional features make it powerful despite its flaws. His explanation of prototypal inheritance is clearer than anything else I've read, and the section on regular expressions is surprisingly useful. The book is short—you can read it in an afternoon—but dense. Every paragraph matters. The updated edition adds some modern context, but the core content is unchanged because the good parts haven't changed. My only critique is that some of Crockford's opinions feel dogmatic—he dismisses features that many developers find useful—but that's part of the book's charm. It's not trying to be comprehensive; it's trying to teach you to think about JavaScript differently. I've recommended it to developers who are frustrated with JavaScript's quirks, and it usually helps them see the language's strengths.

Douglas Crockford's guide to JavaScript's best features. Learn to ignore the bad parts and use the good ones—functions, closures, and prototypal inheritance.

JavaScript: The Good Parts - Updated Edition Guide

JavaScript: The Good Parts (Updated Edition)

Hand-picked javascript programming tools and resources we actually use in production. Each item tested by developers, for developers.

JavaScript Programming Products

Effective JavaScript: 68 Specific Ways to Harness the Power of JavaScript

JavaScript: The Good Parts (Updated Edition)