The best Raspberry Pi and Arduino books in 2026 cover the Pi 5 and Pi 500, the Pico 2, and Arduino IDE 2. None of the Arduino picks is written for the newest UNO R4 or UNO Q boards, so board-specific chapters use older boards, although most sketches carry over. Editions, prices and stock for all ten picks below were checked on October 19, 2026, and every link points to the edition named.
The list runs from first circuits to designing a board that ships. Start where you are, because a book pitched too far ahead of your board just sits on the shelf.
Best Raspberry Pi and Arduino books at a glance
| # | Book | Best for | Board or platform | Price band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make: Electronics, 3rd Ed. | Components from zero | Breadboard circuits plus Arduino | $15 to $25 |
| 2 | Getting Started With Arduino, 4th Ed. | Your first week with Arduino | Uno, plus an overview of the ARM boards | $15 to $25 |
| 3 | Arduino Workshop, 2nd Ed. | Learning by projects | Arduino, IDE 2.x per the publisher | $30 to $35 |
| 4 | Programming Arduino, 3rd Ed. | The sketch language | Arduino, plus ESP32, Pico and micro:bit | Under $15 |
| 5 | Official Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Guide, 6th Ed. | Your first Pi | Pi 5, Pi 500 and 500+, Pico 2 chapter | $15 to $25 |
| 6 | Python Projects for Raspberry Pi | Real Pi builds | Pi 5 and the Pico range | $15 to $25 |
| 7 | Get Started with MicroPython on Pico, 2nd Ed. | Pico in MicroPython | Pico 2 and 2 W, Pico and Pico W | $15 to $25 |
| 8 | Programming ESP32, 2nd Ed. | Cheap Wi-Fi and Bluetooth boards | ESP32 Lite and DevKit 1 | Under $15 |
| 9 | Practical Electronics for Inventors, 4th Ed. | The desk reference | General electronics | $30 to $35 |
| 10 | Designing Electronics That Work | Hardware that ships | PCB design and production | $30 to $35 |
Prices move daily on Amazon, so the bands are a guide; the buttons link to the current price. All ten are paperbacks sold by Amazon.com, and each link goes to the English print edition, not a Kindle or translated copy.
Choose Arduino or Raspberry Pi first
Arduino and Raspberry Pi books teach different things, so the board decides the book. A classic Arduino is a microcontroller: it runs one sketch, starts instantly and talks to sensors and motors. The new UNO Q adds a Linux processor next to its microcontroller, but the books here cover the classic boards. A Raspberry Pi 5 is a small Linux computer with a desktop, a network stack and Python, closer to a cheap PC than to an Arduino.
The Pico is Raspberry Pi’s microcontroller board, in the same class as an Arduino. It is usually programmed in MicroPython, though the C/C++ SDK and the Arduino IDE work too. Use this to pick your starting shelf:
- Start with Arduino books if you want to blink LEDs, read sensors and drive motors with no operating system.
- Start with Raspberry Pi books if you want a Linux box for a home server, a camera or Python projects.
- Start with a Pico or ESP32 book if you want microcontroller work in Python instead of C++.
- Start with an electronics book if resistors, transistors and Ohm’s law are still new.
If you haven’t bought the board yet, the Raspberry Pi 5 kit guide covers which kit to get, and the Pi 5 versus N150 comparison helps if the Pi is meant to be a home server.
1. Make: Electronics by Charles Platt
Make: Electronics suits the true beginner, the reader who has never held a resistor. Learning how the parts behave first pays off later, because every Arduino or Pi project is a circuit before it is code.
Platt teaches resistors, capacitors, transistors and logic chips by having you build, and sometimes burn out, real circuits on a breadboard. The third edition is a 2021 rewrite with three new Arduino projects, so it bridges into the boards later in this list. At 325 pages it moves slower than a project book, which is deliberate: you’ll know why a circuit works before you write a sketch for it. Skip it if you only want to plug modules together and code, and start with Arduino Workshop instead.
2. Getting Started With Arduino by Massimo Banzi and Michael Shiloh
Getting Started With Arduino is a short on-ramp, written by an Arduino co-founder. Buy it for your first week with a board, when the ideas matter more than a pile of projects.
The fourth edition’s preface says it was written for IDE 2, uses the Uno for most of the book, and replaces the old Leonardo chapter with one on the Arduino Cloud. It also adds chapters on the 32-bit ARM boards and on Arduino Create. Those cloud chapters are the part that ages fastest, because they describe an online service rather than the board itself, and a service can change its screens and plans without a new edition of the book. At 285 pages it has few projects, so pair it with Arduino Workshop if you want more builds, and with the Arduino IDE install guide for setup on Linux.
3. Arduino Workshop by John Boxall
Arduino Workshop is for readers who learn by building. Each project explains the circuit and the sketch together, so electronics and code arrive in the same chapter.
No Starch lists 65 hands-on projects, starting with LEDs and buttons and working up to displays, sensors and wireless links. The second edition dates from 2021, but the publisher says it covers Arduino IDE 2.x, and its code download is dated October 2023, so you’re working with the IDE 2 interface rather than the old editor. At 432 pages it is the most complete Arduino project book here. Pass on it if you want theory first, because it teaches through projects rather than chapters on the language.
4. Programming Arduino by Simon Monk
Programming Arduino teaches the language rather than the projects. Arduino sketches are C++, and this book covers that language from variables to libraries in 178 pages.
The third edition also uses Arduino-compatible boards such as the ESP32, Pico and micro:bit, so what you learn carries over when you change boards. Its cover says it was revised for Arduino IDE 1.8, which means the menus won’t match the current editor even though the code does. It is short enough to read alongside a project book. If C++ grabs you, the C and C++ book list takes it much further.
5. The Official Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Guide by Gareth Halfacree
Raspberry Pi’s own beginner book is the place to start with a new Pi 5 or Pi 500. It takes a total beginner from the box to a first Python project on current hardware, in one book.
Raspberry Pi Press released the sixth edition in December 2025 for the Pi 500 and 500+ and Raspberry Pi OS Trixie. It walks through the desktop, Scratch, Python, the camera and the GPIO pins, and its final chapter moves on to the Pico 2. Make sure the listing says 6th edition before you buy, because the cheaper 5th edition and several translated 6th editions sit next to it in Amazon’s results. Readers who already use Linux daily can skip the desktop chapters and go straight to the GPIO and Python ones.
6. Python Projects for Raspberry Pi by Ben Everard
Python Projects for Raspberry Pi is the next step once the beginner’s guide is done. Raspberry Pi Press pitches this June 2026 book at intermediate users, so it assumes you can already write basic Python.
Everard builds real projects on the Pi 5 and the Pico range, and it goes as far as extending Python with C. That makes it the book for moving past tutorials to projects you design yourself. Leave it for later if you’ve never written Python, and for a first always-on project, Pi-hole is a good warm-up before you open it.
7. Get Started with MicroPython on Raspberry Pi Pico by Gareth Halfacree and Ben Everard
This is the official Pico book from Raspberry Pi Press, and an easy way into microcontrollers with Python. MicroPython lets you skip C++ entirely, so you see results from the first chapter.
The second edition is updated for the Pico 2 and 2 W and still covers the original Pico and Pico W. Its 192 pages run from blinking an LED to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth projects, all in MicroPython, so you never touch C++. A third edition shows as a pre-order on Amazon for April 2027, though other retailers list earlier dates. Buy the second edition now if a board is already on your desk, since it covers the current Pico 2 boards.
8. Programming ESP32 by Simon Monk
Programming ESP32 covers the cheap Wi-Fi and Bluetooth boards that home automation runs on, in MicroPython. It runs to 185 pages, including a Wi-Fi web server project.
MonkMakes says the second edition adds a chapter on Bluetooth Low Energy and centres on the ESP32 Lite and ESP32 DevKit 1 boards. Amazon shows three print versions of this title, and the one linked is the second edition MonkMakes names on its own page. Skip it if you want Arduino C++ or Espressif’s own ESP-IDF, because the book is MicroPython only. ESPHome is a separate firmware path again, which the mmWave presence sensor guide uses if home automation is the goal.
9. Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk
Practical Electronics for Inventors is the reference you keep on the bench for years. You look things up in it rather than reading it cover to cover.
Its 1,056 pages cover components, op amps, power supplies, digital logic and microcontrollers, with the maths there when you want it. The fourth edition is from 2016 and no fifth edition has been announced, so the microcontroller chapter is dated. Circuit theory does not age, though, and that’s the part you’ll keep coming back to when a project misbehaves.
10. Designing Electronics That Work by Hunter Scott
Designing Electronics That Work is for the day you want your own board. No Starch aims it at a hobbyist moving beyond Arduino.
It covers requirements, schematic and PCB layout, EMC, cost and manufacturing, then lab work and troubleshooting. None of the other books here explains why a working prototype fails when you order fifty of it, and that gap is what this one fills. Leave it until you’ve built a few projects from the books above, because it assumes you already know the parts.
Check these before you buy a maker book
Board and software changes date maker books faster than most tech books. Run through these before you order:
- Check the board names in the description match the board you own, such as Pi 5, Pico 2 or Uno.
- Check the Arduino IDE version, since older books show the old editor’s screens.
- Check the edition number on the listing, because older and translated editions share search results.
- Check the format says paperback if you want print, since many self-published titles are Kindle-only.
For the Internet of Things side, the IoT book list covers MicroPython for the IoT and IoT project books that aren’t repeated here, and the programming book hub lists the rest.
Pick a reading path
Most readers need two or three of these books, not ten. Follow the path that matches your board:
- For Arduino: read Make: Electronics, then Getting Started With Arduino or Programming Arduino, then Arduino Workshop.
- For Raspberry Pi: read the Beginner’s Guide, then Python Projects for Raspberry Pi.
- For microcontrollers in Python: read the Pico book or Programming ESP32, depending on your board.
- For building your own hardware: keep Practical Electronics for Inventors on the bench, then read Designing Electronics That Work.
Buy the first book on your path and the board it uses, finish a project, then order the next one. The books stick far better with a board on the desk than as a stack on the shelf.
