Best React books

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Overview

React is one of the most popular frameworks used by multiple companies for advanced dynamic web applications. Even in modern times one of the best ways will be to learn to react is through books. Many new react learners prefer to learn to react via YouTube videos. There is no doubt that this is a good way to learn, but a book can help a person to understand the basic concepts and working mechanism in greater detail and will enable us to easily articulate the projects. Books also provide techniques and best practices to improve coding in react for experienced developers.

Introduction

React is a javascript library for building user interfaces. React books can be utilized by both new and experienced developers to learn to react. The main idea of react books for beginners is to give a clear idea of the basic concepts of react and make a path to get started with react projects. The use of react books for experienced developers is to learn best practices and ways to optimize the code for attaining better performance. This article covers the best books that can be utilized to attain these purposes.

Top React.js Books for Beginners

FullStack React

The react book, full-stack react was written by multiple authors such as David Guttman, Ari Lerner, Nate Murray, Anthony Accomazzo, Tyler McGinnis, and Clay Allsopp.

  • The explanation starts from the basic level and slowly accumulates with an explanation of libraries and advanced concepts.
  • The book also illustrates the process of thinking involved in each design concept and also provides multiple real-world examples.
  • The contents of the books clearly explain multiple use cases like form handling, redux, URL handling, making server calls, API management, GraphQL integrations, etc...

The examples in the book are not modular and hence don't explain the practices for file structure of a react application.

Book cover

Learning React: Functional Web Development with React and Redux

This is one of the well-structured react books written by Alex Banks and Eve Porcello.

  • This book explains the concepts of ES6 and functional programming very clearly.
  • This book also explains the implementation of redux in reacting and creating an express router.
  • Furthermore, the book introduces us to the react components used by organizations like Facebook.

It is a little hard to keep track of the changes made in the example code throughout the book and less information about async is provided.

Learning React

HTML To React: The Ultimate Guide

This react book for beginners is written by Sunil Kumar and covers a lot of concepts like HTML, JavaScript, and Git including react.

  • The basic core concepts like hooks in react, lifecycle management, and the concept of virtual DOM are explained in detail.
  • The examples are provided with illustrations and roadmaps to help with understanding the concepts.
  • The book provides 50+ projects and also has a free e-book of 400+ pages which is updated regularly.

HTML To React

React in Action

This react book is written by Mark Tielens Thomas and illustrates the process of creating a dynamic and coherent website for a better user experience.

  • This read book provides great insights into the internal working of react.
  • Multiple practices for professional web development are provided and some parts cover the design of mobile interfaces.
  • There are multiple examples, projects to understand the concepts, and also challenges to evaluate ourselves through the book.

The basic concepts of ES6 syntax of javascript are not well explained.

React in Action

The Road to React

This react book for beginners is written by Robin Wieruch. This book is divided into two sections, the first section is a crash course on React and there are multiple paths from which we can choose for the second section.

  • This is an example-based book and explains best practices of basic concepts like ES6/ES7 syntax and functional programming of javascript.
  • The book is very clear, technical, and easy to understand. The author also explains best practices and the nature of reactions.
  • The book is up to date and also includes real-world examples of pagination, server-side filtering, etc...

The Road to React

Learn React Hooks

This react book is written by Daniel Bugl and covers react hooks in a very detailed manner along with examples.

  • The book explains the internal working of react hooks and the integration of hooks with suspense and context APIs.
  • This book covers concepts like community hooks for responsive design and migration of applications using other state management libraries to reach hooks.
  • The book illustrates the example of creating a single-page blog website using react hooks.

Learn React Hooks

Best React Books for Experienced Developers

React 17 - Design Patterns and Best Practices

This react book written by Carlos Santana Roldán is for developers experienced in react and who want to learn the best practices and industry standards for improving their skills.

  • The book covers multiple concepts like GraphQL, Express, Postgres, authentication with JSON web tokens, etc.
  • This book teaches react patterns that can be used in real-life projects. The learner must also be familiar with typescript as it is used in the examples in this book.
  • The book covers multiple examples.

React 17

React Explained

This react book is written by Zac Gordon and explains the core concepts of react along with the internal working of react.

  • The book covers ideas of how to react was built and works.
  • The book is well structured and depth explanation was given with examples.
  • Multiple CRUD examples were included in this book.

FAQ

Q. How do you learn React quickly?

A. The best and fastest way to learn React is by practicing multiple examples and working on React projects. Read the books to understand the concepts and workings of reaction along with examples. Then try to innovate the code on your own by adding your logic.

Q. What is the best React book?

A There are multiple React books and you can select a book based on your level of expertise. If you are a beginner who is very eager to learn to react, then The Road to React could be the best choice and if you are an experienced developer, the React 17 - Design Patterns and Best Practices could help to learn the best practices of react.

Q. What is React JS used for?

A. React JS is a framework used to build front-end web applications. React uses reusable components with hooks to manage data easily and build complex web applications.

Q. Should I Learn React Online Or Through A Book?

A. The best practice to learn to react will be to learn the core and basic concepts using a book and use online resources to practice the learned skills by building a project from a tutorial with innovations on your own.

Conclusion

  • React JS is one of the most famous frameworks to create front-end applications.
  • There are multiple react books and the best book can be selected based on your level of expertise.
  • Most beginner books explain basic concepts like ES6/ES7 and functional programming along with core react concepts such as lifecycle management and react hooks.
  • The road to react could be one of the best react books for beginners.
  • The book Learn React Hooks can be the best book for developers who want to understand the internal working of react hooks and want to migrate their redux react application to an application with hooks.
  • The React 17 - Design Patterns and Best Practices explains the industrial practices used in react and is the best fit for experienced developers.