Best Raspberry Pi Books For Beginners 2020

In this article we’ll show you the best Raspberry Pi Books in 2020. The Raspberry Pi is a powerful card-size microcomputer board that you can get for $35. It has everything a normal computer has: a processor; RAM; ports to plug in a monitor, mouse, and keyboard; the ability to connect to the internet, and General Purpose Input Output Pins (GPIOs) that allow you to interact with the real world.

There are several models of the Raspberry Pi board, the latest release is the Raspberry Pi 4.

Best Raspberry Pi Books For Beginners List

Note: if you’re just getting started with the Raspberry Pi, you can read our Raspberry Pi Getting Started Guide. If you’re looking for a Raspberry Pi Starter Kit, you may like to read our review about the Best Raspberry Pi Starter Kits.

The Raspberry Pi is a great piece of hardware for makers, inventors, geeks, engineers, kids, and basically anyone who likes to make stuff and learn more about programming and computers. Additionally, there are a wide variety of subjects you can explore with the Raspberry Pi.

So, the best Raspberry Pi book for you depends on what you intend to do with the Raspberry Pi. Do you want to make electronics projects, create and program games, learn programming, or build fun projects with your kids? Here we provide a list with the Best Raspberry Pi Books for those subjects.

Best Raspberry Pi Projects Books

The books in this section include books with DIY Raspberry Pi projects. One of the best ways to learn something new is by making and building stuff, so a project’s book is a great way to get started. Check our choices of the best raspberry Pi Project’s Books below.

We (Rui Santos and Sara Santos) are the authors of the “20 Easy Raspberry Pi Projects: Toys, Tools, Gadgets, and More!”. This book is a compilation of 20 beginner-friendly electronics projects, perfectly suited for kids, parents, educators, and hobbyists looking to level up their hardware skills.

The book starts with a quick introduction to the Raspberry Pi and the Python programming language and then, jumps straight to the projects. Projects are explained with full-color visuals and simple step-by-step instructions. You’ll build a home surveillance system, a smoke detector, learn how to control lamps remotely, build your own game, and much more. (Yes, these projects are suitable for beginners)

The book is fully tested and compatible with all 40 pins Raspberry Pi boards (including Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and the newest Raspberry Pi 4 board). If you want to learn more about this book, watch the video below:

Find the book on Amazon »

Note: by purchasing our book you are supporting our work. Thank you!

---

This book is part of the “Evil Genius” series and like other books on this series, it is just great! It starts with a quick introduction to the Raspberry Pi and then covers 10 awesome DIY projects with the Pi that showcase applications in computing, communication, video, photography, and robotics.

The projects include learning how to use and program a touchscreen, interface the Pi with an Arduino, build a cell phone, surveillance system, and much more. It contains detailed instructions and all the necessary code to build the projects. The project’s presented in this book are great to learn, but readers complaint about costly parts necessary to build those projects.

This book was released on May 2016 and was written based on the Raspberry Pi 2. If you want to use a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4, it is fully compatible. However, you may find some outdated instructions when it comes to the Raspberry Pi operating system.

---

Best Raspberry Pi Getting Started Books

If you’re still not sure about what to do with the Raspberry Pi, a getting started guide book is the way to go. These will introduce you to the Raspberry Pi and show you all the things you can do with his amazing board.

This getting started book was written by the co-creator of Raspberry Pi, Ben Upton and this is like a manual for the Raspberry Pi. At first, it includes everything you need to know on how to set up, getting started and configure your Raspberry Pi, including administration with Linux. Then, it also includes subjects like building a media centre, programming the Pi and hacking hardware. This book is the fourth edition and was released on August 2016.

---

Get started with the Raspberry Pi with a For Dummies book. This book walks you through all the basics you need to know to get started with the Raspberry Pi in the For Dummies style. The book covers how to set up your Raspberry Pi, how to get started with Linux and you how you can use your Raspberry Pi in several tasks. It includes: using the Raspberry Pi for work and play and how to program the Pi using Scratch and Python. Additionally, it also shows how to use the GPIO header to build simple electronics projects. The book was fully updated on September 2017.

You might also like: Best Arduino Books For Kids

---

Best Raspberry Pi Books For Kids

The Raspberry Pi is great to inspire kids and teens into the world of electronics, computing, and programming. Check the following books to keep your kids interested and motivated.

Adventures in Raspberry Pi is addressed to 11 to 15 year old. However, this is also a great resource for parents, teachers, and educators. The book explains basic programming and computing concepts in a friendly and easy way. Therefore, this is perfect for those who don’t know anything about these subjects. If your kids already have some computing or programming knowledge, may be this book is a bit too basic.

The book includes 9 interesting and fun projects to explain computing, programming, and electronics subjects.

---

Raspberry Pi Projects for Kids is another great resource to get kids interested in computing and programming. This book shows how you can be creative using the Raspberry Pi, including: creating games and animations with Scratch; create useful programs in Python; interact with the real world by creating a physical game; and even create your own music. Overall, this is a great book to follow along with your kids (it is even funnier if parents also get involved).

Recommended reading: Best Raspberry Pi Starter Kits

---

Best Raspberry Pi Programming Books

The Raspberry Pi is great to learn how to program as it comes with a set of free tools for writing software in Python, Java, C, and much more. If you make a mistake, you can just wipe
your Pi and start over.

This book from Simon Monk is a best seller on Amazon. It is a great guide to get started programming the Raspberry Pi with Python and no previous experience is required. Python programming language is one of the easiest ways to get started into coding. So, if you have no knowledge about programming, this is a good starting point. You’ll learn python with practical examples like coding games, creating GUIs, and much more. It also explains how to interface the Raspberry Pi with the outside world.

This is the second edition and it was released on October 2015. This was written based on the Raspberry Pi 2, but it should also compatible with the Raspberry Pi 3 and 4. It uses Raspbian operating system that had several updates since then, so you may find some of the prints outdated. However, you should be able to follow the instructions either way.

---

Our Compilation of Raspberry Pi Projects

If you’re looking for Raspberry Pi projects and tutorials, you can check our compilation of free Raspberry Pi Projects by clicking the image below.

Wrapping Up

After reading this post, we hope you got interested into learning computing and programming with the Raspberry Pi.

We have other related blog posts about Raspberry Pi that you may also like:

• Best Raspberry Pi Starter Kits
• The Best Raspberry Pi Retro Gaming Kits
• Best Raspberry Pi Zero W Kits
• Top 10 best Raspberry Pi Accessories

Thanks for reading.

---

---

Other RNT Courses