DevOps isn’t just a buzzword anymore—it’s a movement. It’s reshaping how teams build, deploy, and manage software at scale. Whether you’re building microservices in Kubernetes, automating your CI/CD pipelines, or advocating for a more collaborative culture in your organization, there’s always something new to learn in the DevOps world.
And what better way to learn than with a good book?
We’ve compiled a list of 30 must-read DevOps books that cover everything from beginner basics to advanced topics like SRE, DevSecOps, and cloud-native infrastructure. These books aren’t just for developers or operations folks—they’re for anyone who wants to improve how software is built and delivered.
🧭 1. Introduction to DevOps
Start here if you’re new to DevOps or want to refresh your fundamentals.
These books offer a solid foundation—covering the “why” behind DevOps and helping you understand how it brings together development, operations, and business teams to deliver better software, faster.
- The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford
A novel-style narrative that introduces DevOps principles in an engaging and relatable way. It’s a story about a failing IT project and the transformation that follows—entertaining and educational. - The DevOps Handbook by Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, and John Willis
A practical guide packed with strategies and real-world case studies on implementing DevOps in any organization. - The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim
A companion to The Phoenix Project, this book focuses more on developers and the cultural obstacles they face in traditional IT environments.
💡 Key takeaway: DevOps is not just about tools—it’s about people, process, and culture.
🤝 2. DevOps Culture & Organizational Change
Because without the right culture, the best tools won’t matter.
These books explore how to build a collaborative, cross-functional DevOps culture within your teams and organizations.
- Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim
Backed by years of research and data from the State of DevOps Report, this book shows how high-performing teams deliver better software and achieve greater business success. - Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais
A revolutionary look at how team structures and interaction modes impact delivery speed and system reliability. - Lean Enterprise by Jez Humble, Joanne Molesky, and Barry O’Reilly
Combines lean startup principles with enterprise transformation strategies.
💡 Key takeaway: Organizational agility starts with team design, communication, and a shared sense of ownership.
🛠️ 3. Technical DevOps & Infrastructure as Code
For engineers who love getting into the weeds.
Want to automate infrastructure provisioning? Embrace containers? These books are for the technically inclined who want to master the nuts and bolts of DevOps.
- Infrastructure as Code by Kief Morris
Teaches you how to manage infrastructure the same way you manage application code: versioned, tested, and automated. - Terraform: Up & Running by Yevgeniy Brikman
A hands-on guide to provisioning infrastructure using HashiCorp’s powerful tool. - Kubernetes Up & Running by Brendan Burns, Joe Beda, and Kelsey Hightower
Everything you need to get started with Kubernetes—the de facto container orchestration tool.
💡 Key takeaway: Automation is the backbone of modern infrastructure.
🔐 4. DevSecOps & Security
Shift left on security and build safer systems from the start.
Security in DevOps isn’t optional. These books help you embed security into every stage of your software delivery lifecycle.
- Securing DevOps by Julien Vehent
A hands-on guide to designing secure applications in the cloud and building security into your DevOps toolchain. - The DevOps 2.0 Toolkit: Automating the Continuous Deployment Pipeline with Containerized Microservices by Viktor Farcic
While focused on microservices, this book includes valuable guidance on integrating security throughout the pipeline.
💡 Key takeaway: Don’t treat security as an afterthought—bake it into your DevOps practices.
📈 5. Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
For those who live and breathe uptime.
SRE brings an engineering mindset to operations and system reliability. These books—many of which come from Google’s own practices—are essential reads for anyone maintaining production systems.
- Site Reliability Engineering by Google
The definitive guide to how Google runs reliable systems at scale. - The Site Reliability Workbook
A follow-up with concrete tools, templates, and best practices. - Seeking SRE by David N. Blank-Edelman
Offers insights from a wide range of companies adopting SRE, and tackles some of the nuanced cultural and practical challenges.
💡 Key takeaway: Reliability is a shared responsibility—not just the ops team’s problem.
🔁 6. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)
Automate everything. Deliver faster. Sleep better.
These books help you master the CI/CD pipelines that are central to modern DevOps practices.
- Continuous Delivery by Jez Humble and David Farley
A foundational book that shows you how to deliver software safely and quickly using automated pipelines. - Building Microservices by Sam Newman
Goes beyond architecture and into how CI/CD enables microservice delivery. - Pipeline as Code by Mohamed Labouardy
A practical guide to managing your entire CI/CD setup as version-controlled code.
💡 Key takeaway: The faster you can safely deploy, the quicker you can learn and iterate.
☁️ 7. Cloud & System Administration
Because the cloud isn’t just someone else’s computer—it’s your responsibility.
As DevOps increasingly operates in cloud-native environments, system administration books are evolving too. These titles help you understand how to run and scale systems in modern cloud platforms.
- The Practice of System and Network Administration by Thomas A. Limoncelli, et al.
A comprehensive reference for traditional and cloud-based system administration. - Cloud Native DevOps with Kubernetes by John Arundel and Justin Domingus
A fantastic resource on how to deploy and manage cloud-native applications using Kubernetes and DevOps principles. - Site Reliability Engineering in Practice by Google Cloud
A newer title that connects SRE, DevOps, and cloud operations in one playbook.
💡 Key takeaway: Cloud-native operations require a fresh approach to automation, observability, and scalability.
📚 Wrapping Up
There’s no one-size-fits-all path to DevOps mastery—but with these books, you’ll be equipped to build faster, collaborate better, and operate smarter.
Whether you’re a:
- Developer looking to understand infrastructure
- Ops engineer wanting to automate everything
- Architect shaping cloud strategies
- Or a leader driving cultural change…
There’s something here for you.
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