A reading list for anyone who wants to use generative AI well in day-to-day development. Each pick has its own review on this blog, and every entry links to it. The list starts with how to instruct an LLM, then moves through context design, AI coding in practice, and how to create value.
Why learn to use generative AI
LLMs are easy to start with, but the quality of their output depends on what you give them. If you rely on gut feeling, you struggle to reproduce or improve your results. Once you learn the principles and the design approach, AI becomes a dependable development tool.
1. Design your instructions to the LLM
Prompt Engineering for LLMs
An O'Reilly book that organizes prompt engineering into a system. Through tokenization, context length, few-shot prompting, and output evaluation, it teaches you to treat prompts as something you design. I cover it in the review.
Context Engineering
It covers how to choose and structure the information you pass to an LLM, and how to combine it with retrieval and memory. It connects directly to the problems you hit when you build RAG systems or agents, so it works as an implementation guide. See the review.
2. Develop alongside AI
Beyond Vibe Coding
It looks past "vibe coding," where you let AI write code by feel, and shows practices for building AI into the whole development workflow. It maps out how review, testing, and refactoring change in the AI era. I wrote it up in the review.
3. Create value with generative AI
Creating Value in the Age of Generative AI
It frames how to turn generative AI into business and organizational results through mindset, skills, data, and use cases. It helps you see the big picture at a different layer from technical articles. I cover it in the review.
Wrap-up
Start with the prompt and context books to learn the principles of what you give an LLM, then widen your view to the development process with Beyond Vibe Coding. If you plan products or make decisions, add Creating Value in the Age of Generative AI. Every book has a full review here, so start with whichever one interests you most.
