Kotlin in Action, Second Edition is the Kotlin book to buy if you only want one. It teaches the language as it stands in the Kotlin 2.0 era, and it gives coroutines and Flow five full chapters, which the 2017 first edition did not have at all.
This list of the best Kotlin books covers nine picks for beginners, Java developers, coroutines, Android and Spring Boot backends. Each pick names the edition to buy, what it leaves out and who should pass on it. We checked every edition, page count and price on Amazon US and against the publisher page, author site or code repository in November 2026, when Kotlin 2.4 was the current stable release.
Which Kotlin book should you read first?
Your first Kotlin book depends on what you already write. Kotlin runs on the JVM, so a Java developer and a complete beginner need very different books, and an Android developer needs a third kind once the basics are in place. Find the line that matches you:
- You have never programmed before: start with Atomic Kotlin.
- You know Python or JavaScript and learn best by building things: read Kotlin from Scratch.
- You write Java every day: read Kotlin in Action, then Java to Kotlin for your existing codebase.
- Your app freezes, leaks coroutines or mixes callbacks with suspend functions: read Kotlin Coroutines: Deep Dive.
- You want to ship an Android app with Jetpack Compose: read How to Build Android Applications with Kotlin.
- You build Spring Boot services: read Pro Spring Boot 3 with Kotlin.
Most developers need two books, not nine. One language book plus one book for the place you run Kotlin (coroutines, Android or the backend) covers what a new Kotlin job expects of you in the first few months.
How do the nine Kotlin books compare?
The table lists the exact edition we link, what each book is best at, its length and when that printing came out. Page counts and dates come from the Amazon US catalog on November 1, 2026, so a publisher’s own page can differ by a few pages:
| Book | Best for | Level | Pages | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kotlin in Action, 2nd ed. | The whole language plus coroutines | Intermediate | 560 | 2024 |
| Atomic Kotlin | First programming language | Beginner | 636 | 2021 |
| Kotlin from Scratch | Learning through 37 projects | Beginner | 432 | 2025 |
| Java to Kotlin | Migrating a Java codebase | Intermediate | 422 | 2021 |
| Effective Kotlin, 2nd ed. | Idiomatic code and best practices | Advanced | 397 | 2023 |
| Kotlin Coroutines: Deep Dive | How coroutines and Flow work | Advanced | 537 | 2022 listing, revised since |
| Kotlin Coroutine Confidence | Moving callback code to coroutines | Intermediate | 274 | 2025 |
| How to Build Android Applications with Kotlin, 3rd ed. | Android 16 apps with Compose | Beginner to intermediate | 654 | 2025 |
| Pro Spring Boot 3 with Kotlin | Spring Boot microservices | Intermediate | 936 | 2025 |
New copies sold for roughly $35 to $57 on Amazon US on November 1, 2026, with Kotlin from Scratch at the low end and Pro Spring Boot 3 with Kotlin at the top. Prices on programming books move every week, so check the current price on each listing before you order.
How did we pick these Kotlin books?
We started from the searches people run for Kotlin books, then pulled each candidate’s binding, page count, publication date and stock state from Amazon’s catalog API. The book’s scope and Kotlin version came from the publisher page, the author’s site or the official code repository, never from the listing copy alone. Every pick passed these checks:
- The link goes to a print edition, not a Kindle listing, and the cover shown matches that edition.
- The book is sold new on Amazon US, from Amazon or a seller with a delivery date.
- The publisher, author site or code repository confirms what the book covers.
- It comes from a known publisher or an author with a public track record in Kotlin, not a low-cost generated title.
That last check removed most of the search results. A catalog search for Kotlin returns dozens of self-published books dated 2025 and 2026 at a few dollars each, many with no named publisher and no code repository. We did not read every pick cover to cover for this guide, so the verdicts rest on each book’s published contents, its table of contents and its code.
1. Kotlin in Action, Second Edition
This is the best Kotlin book for a developer who already knows another language. Svetlana Isakova, Roman Elizarov, Sebastian Aigner and Dmitry Jemerov rewrote the 2017 original for Manning, and the second edition came out in spring 2024 with new chapters on coroutines and flows.
The book’s official code repository builds against Kotlin 2.0.0-Beta4 and kotlinx.coroutines 1.8.1-Beta, so the examples come from the K2 compiler era rather than Kotlin 1.x. It covers null safety, the standard library, functional style, Java interop and DSLs, and then spends five chapters (14 to 18) on coroutines, structured concurrency, flows, flow operators, and error handling and testing. The first chapter shows where Kotlin runs (Android, Spring, Ktor and Multiplatform), but it stays a language book after that.
- The listing says Second Edition and the cover names four authors.
- You can already read Java, C#, Python or TypeScript without help.
- You want coroutines explained in the same book as the language.
Pass on it if Kotlin is your first programming language, because the pace assumes you know what a class and a lambda are. Avoid the first edition (2017) even at a lower price: it has no coroutines chapters, because it was written before coroutines became stable. The second edition sold for about $45 to $50 on November 1, 2026.
2. Atomic Kotlin
Atomic Kotlin is the best Kotlin book for someone who has never programmed. Bruce Eckel, who wrote Thinking in Java, and Svetlana Isakova split the language into dozens of short chapters, from var and val in the first section to property delegation and lazy initialization in the last.
Each chapter teaches one idea, so you can stop after any of them and still know something complete, and the companion exercises with solutions run inside IntelliJ IDEA. The seven sections run from programming basics through objects, functional programming, object-oriented programming, error handling and what the authors call power tools, with Java interop in an appendix. The book’s site says version 1.1 (November 2021) was updated for Kotlin 1.5 and works with 1.6.
- You have written little or no code before and want every concept introduced from zero.
- You prefer many short chapters to a few long ones.
- You plan to add a coroutines or Android book afterwards.
Java developers can skip this one, because the early sections will feel slow. The table of contents has no coroutines chapter, so asynchronous code needs a second book. It sold for about $35 to $40 in early November 2026.
3. Kotlin from Scratch
Kotlin from Scratch suits people who learn by building something. Faisal Islam’s No Starch book walks through 37 projects, and after three chapters of fundamentals, including JavaFX graphics, it spends the rest on math, simulation, fractals, sorting and nature-inspired algorithms.
Projects carry the book. You simulate binary stars, implement the Hill cipher, draw fractals with recursion and solve the Berlin52 traveling salesman problem, according to the publisher’s page. Graphics use JavaFX, so the book also shows Kotlin as a desktop and general-purpose language rather than an Android-only one.
- You enjoy math and science problems more than business examples.
- You want a finished program at the end of each chapter.
- You are fine installing JavaFX alongside the Kotlin compiler.
Look elsewhere if you need Kotlin for a job, because none of the nine chapters covers coroutines, Android, Ktor or Spring. Amazon showed the paperback at about $35 on November 1, 2026, but marked stock as limited, so check the delivery date.
4. Java to Kotlin: A Refactoring Guidebook
Java to Kotlin is the book for teams with a Java codebase that has to keep running while Kotlin moves in. Duncan McGregor and Nat Pryce start from working Java code and refactor it into Kotlin gradually and safely, keeping it interoperable with the Java that remains.
McGregor and Pryce answer the question a language tutorial skips: what does idiomatic Kotlin look like when it has to live next to Java classes, Java callers and a Java build? The authors also run a companion site and a YouTube playlist that follow the same refactoring style. Pair it with our Java programming books guide if part of your team still writes Java full time.
- You maintain a Java service and want to introduce Kotlin file by file.
- You already know basic Kotlin syntax from a first book or the official docs.
- You care about why a refactoring is safe, not only the final code.
As a first Kotlin book it is the wrong choice, since it expects you to follow refactoring steps across several files. It came out in 2021, before the K2 compiler, so expect the build setup to look older than a 2026 project. Amazon listed it at about $48 in early November 2026.
5. Effective Kotlin: Best Practices, Second Edition
Effective Kotlin is the second book a working Kotlin developer should own. Marcin Moskała presents it as numbered items, each one a simple rule followed by a detailed explanation and the code that breaks without it.
The items cover object creation (factory functions, named optional arguments, DSLs), class design (composition over inheritance, sealed classes, the equals and hashCode contracts) and performance, such as inline value classes and when a Sequence beats a List. Moskała keeps the Leanpub edition updated, and the paperback linked here is the 397-page second edition, printed in 2023.
- You write Kotlin at work and want arguments for code review.
- You prefer short, numbered rules you can cite in a pull request.
- The cover reads Second Edition, not the 2019 first edition.
Wait on it until you have written some Kotlin, because an item only lands when you recognize the mistake in your own code. Coroutines are not in it; Moskała covers them in the separate book below. The paperback sold for about $39 on November 1, 2026, and a 2024 hardcover printing exists at a higher price.
6. Kotlin Coroutines: Deep Dive
Kotlin Coroutines: Deep Dive is the best book for understanding coroutines rather than copying them. Marcin Moskała explains how suspension works first, then how to use kotlinx.coroutines in practice, then Channel and Flow, and his book page says the examples focus on backend and Android use.
Testing coroutines gets its own chapter too, and that is the part most teams get wrong first. Amazon still dates this paperback March 2022, but Moskała revises the book in place: the current print cover says Third Edition, and his own Leanpub page links buyers to this same paperback listing. That makes the ISBN the stable thing to buy, not the date on the listing.
- You already use launch and async but cannot explain structured concurrency.
- You need to test suspend functions and flows without real delays.
- You can read 537 pages on one library.
Pass on it if you want a quick migration recipe, because the first part spends real time on how coroutines work inside before it gets practical. It sold for about $40 in early November 2026.
7. Kotlin Coroutine Confidence
Kotlin Coroutine Confidence is the shorter, more practical coroutines book. Sam Cooper’s Pragmatic Bookshelf title runs 274 pages and is built around moving existing code onto coroutines, from blocking calls and callbacks to reactive streams.
The first half is a ground-up tutorial, and the second half’s chapter titles on the publisher’s page read like a migration plan: call blocking functions safely, upgrade every callback, go with the Flow, operate the reactive way, share flows and connect channels, and unit test without delay. Its first printing is dated July 2025.
- Your codebase has callbacks or reactive streams you want to move to coroutines.
- You want coroutines in under 300 pages.
- You learn better from before-and-after code than from internals.
Readers who want the internals should pick Deep Dive instead, since it goes further into how suspension and dispatchers work. The paperback sold for about $47 on November 1, 2026 with stock marked as limited, and its Amazon ASIN starts with B0 because the ISBN uses the 979 prefix, not because it is an ebook.
8. How to Build Android Applications with Kotlin, Third Edition
This is the Android pick because it is current with Jetpack Compose. Alex Forrester, Eran Boudjnah, Alexandru Dumbravan and Jomar Tigcal wrote the third edition for Android 16 apps, and Packt published it in September 2025.
The book’s repository asks for Android Studio Meerkat or later, and its sample project pins Kotlin 2.0.21. Compose runs through the whole book, with an advanced Compose chapter, a chapter on coroutines and Flow, and networking with Ktor and Kotlin Serialization. Later chapters cover navigation, persistence, dependency injection with Hilt and Koin, testing and publishing on Google Play. If you work on Fedora, our guide to installing Android Studio on Fedora gets the SDK and emulator ready before chapter one.
- You know basic Kotlin and want to ship a real Android app.
- You want Compose, not the older XML views, from the first screen.
- Your machine can run Android Studio and an emulator.
Beginners with no Kotlin at all should start elsewhere, because it teaches Android, not the language. At 654 pages it is long, and Packt books vary in editing, so read the sample chapter first. It sold for about $42 on November 1, 2026.
9. Pro Spring Boot 3 with Kotlin
Pro Spring Boot 3 with Kotlin is the backend pick for teams on Spring. Peter Späth and Felipe Gutierrez wrote this Apress edition, published in January 2025, and it is the Kotlin version of Gutierrez’s long-running Pro Spring Boot series.
Expect a backend book from start to finish. According to the Springer listing, it covers Spring Data, messaging with Kafka and RabbitMQ, WebSockets and Spring Cloud for microservices. For the Spring side in Java, our Spring Boot books guide lists the current Spring Boot titles.
- Your team runs Spring Boot 3 and writes new services in Kotlin.
- You want Kafka, RabbitMQ and Spring Cloud examples in Kotlin rather than Java.
- You are comfortable with a book of more than 900 pages.
Pass on it if you are starting on Spring Boot 4. Apress has since released Pro Spring Boot 4, which has no Kotlin in the title, and this Kotlin edition still targets Spring Boot 3. It is also the most expensive pick, about $57 on November 1, 2026, with stock marked as limited.
Does a Kotlin 1.x book still work with Kotlin 2.x?
Mostly yes, for the language itself. Kotlin 2.0 shipped in May 2024 with the K2 compiler as the stable default, as JetBrains describes in What’s new in Kotlin 2.0. The new compiler changed how code is compiled far more than how it is written. Classes, null safety, lambdas and collections read the same in a 2021 book as in a 2026 project. What ages is the tooling around the code: Gradle setup, plugin versions and the newer language features added since.
Before you start an older book, check these on your own machine:
- kotlinc -version prints a 2.x release; the current one is listed on the Kotlin releases page.
- The book’s sample project builds after you raise its Kotlin and Gradle plugin versions.
- Android examples use Compose; a book built on XML layouts teaches a UI toolkit new apps are moving away from.
If kotlinc is not installed yet, our guide to installing Kotlin on Ubuntu and Linux Mint sets up the compiler, which is all the first chapters of any book on this list need.
Which older Kotlin books can you skip?
Several Kotlin books still rank in searches and still sell new, but a newer pick above covers the same ground:
- Head First Kotlin (2019) is friendly and visual, but Atomic Kotlin and Kotlin from Scratch are newer beginner books.
- Kotlin in Action, first edition (2017) is replaced by the second edition at pick 1.
- Effective Kotlin, first edition (2019) is replaced by the second edition at pick 5.
- Most self-published 2025 and 2026 Kotlin titles priced under $10 name no publisher and link no code.
Head First Kotlin is the only one worth a second look, and only if the picture-heavy Head First format is what keeps you reading. It cost about $38 new in early November 2026. For broader reading beyond Kotlin, our list of the best programming books and the object-oriented programming books guide cover design and craft that carry across languages.
In what order should you read them?
Read one language book, then one book for where your Kotlin runs, then the best-practice books once you have code of your own to judge. A reading plan that works for most people:
- Read Atomic Kotlin if you are new to programming, or Kotlin in Action if you already code.
- Read Java to Kotlin if you are converting a Java codebase.
- Read the Android book or Pro Spring Boot 3 with Kotlin for the platform you ship on.
- Read Kotlin Coroutine Confidence for a fast start, or Kotlin Coroutines: Deep Dive for the full picture.
- Keep Effective Kotlin on the desk for code reviews.
Stop when the next book feels like review. Two or three of these, read with a real project open beside them, teach more Kotlin than all nine read cover to cover without writing code.
