5 Best Docker Books to Learn in 2024

These are the best books you can read to learn Docker, DevOps, and containers in-depth

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Javarevisited

8 min readNov 30, 2020

Hello guys, if you want to learn Docker and looking for the best Docker books then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared the best Docker courses, best Kubernetes courses, and today, I am going to share the best books to learn Docker in-depth.

if you are a developer or software engineer then you might have heard about Docker and containers. Being an author of a Java and Programming blog, I daily receive a lot of questions about Docker like what is Docker?

What is Docker Compose? which Docker commands should I learn, what is Docker Hub, How can I migrate my application to Docker and how can I deploy Docker container on AWS, Azure, and GCP.

These are also some of the common doubts of programmers across the world. Let’s start with what is Docker and why a Programmer should learn Docker in 2024?

Simply speaking, Docker makes development and deployment easy. With Docker, you can deploy a Java Microservice in the same way as a C++ application because you will deploy a container. Because of that, you can easily scale up and down and Kubernetes do that for you automatically.

Like most software technologies out there, Docker provides a great level of abstraction which makes it easy to bundle an application and its dependency, which in turn makes it easy to deploy the application on the cloud.

Docker also aims to solve the classic problem of applications working on one machine but not working on others. It does that by abstracting all things including OS which is needed by the application to run.

Docker was first launched by Solomon Hykes in 2013. It is the most popular DevOps tool, and great for continuous deployment and testing. Docker containers make sure there is consistency with multiple environments, developments, and release cycles, helping to standardize your environment.

As I said, If you want to learn Docker then you have come to the right place. In the past, I have shared both free courses to learn Docker as well as best paid Docker courses, and today I’ll share the top five books anyone can learn Docker from scratch.

The list contains best Docker books for both beginners and experienced programmers, who want to learn Docker in-depth.

Though, for better and faster learning, I also recommend you to join an online course to like Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide course by Maximillian Schwarzmuller and AcadMind on Udemy. It’s a great course to go along with these Docker books and you will also learn Kubernetes, a tool which takes Docker’s capability to next level.

Top 5 Books to Learn Docker for Beginners in 2024

Without wasting any more of your time, here is my list of the 5 best books to learn Docker from a beginner’s perspective. Though, this list is not just for beginners but also for an experienced developer who wants to learn Docker in-depth.

I have also included books like Docker Deep Dive which is really great to level up your Docker Skills and become the developer every company wants to hire.

1. The Docker Book

The Docker Book was published by James Turnbull in 2014 and soon became a favorite among the Docker community. It is basically Docker for dummies as it painstakingly explains all the concepts of Docker.

If this is your first time looking at Docker then this book is a perfect fit for you.

Each lesson teaches theory and practice so you learn the benefits of Docker along with real-world practices. From this book, you will learn how to look at docker with fresh eyes.

The table of contents covers Introduction to Docker, Installing Docker, Getting Started with Docker, Working with Docker images and repositories, Testing with Docker, Building services with Docker, Orchestration with Docker Compose, Docker Swarm and Consul, Using the Docker API, and Extending Docker.

If you like online courses then you can also combine this book with the Docker and Kubernetes: The Complete Guide course by Stephen Grider on Udemy. It’s one of the best and up-to-date courses to learn both Docker and Kubernetes and Stephen is well known for making complex things simpler.

2. Docker in Action (2nd Edition)

Just like the name suggests, Docker in Action is a practical book with live examples and working exercises. It was written by Jeff Nicoloff, a Docker expert and the book teaches the following:

Running programs securely and packaging containers for deployment with how to manage shared resources. Users will also learn to create and to deploy projects in Docker, managing applications hosted in Docker containers, and working with Docker images.

There are also lesson on how to use DuckerHub for distribution and techniques for using Docker on systems ranging from dev-and-test machines to full-scale cloud deployments. Package applications in containers, including techniques for testing and distributing applications.

I also recommend you to combine this book with a hands-on course like Docker for the Absolute Beginners — hands-on DevOps on Udemy. It’s a great course with a lot of exercises to learn essential Docker commands. You will also learn how to compose files with exercise and understand the Docker swarm in detail.

3. Learning Docker

If project deployment is all you are about as a developer then this particular book on Docker might just be for you. Although Learning Docker requires a little knowledge of web programming, no knowledge of Docker or container is required.

The authors Pethuru Raj, Vinod Singh, and Jeeva S. Chelladhurai have also written other amazing programming books and ensure that any beginner developer can learn Docker by reading this book.

With this book, you will learn how to build a Docker image using Dockerfiles, push and publish images on Docker Hub, a maven like a repository, run your own private Docker Hub and upload images onto it, compose, use, and publish the Docker containers, leverage the features of Docker to deploy your existing applications and explore real-world examples of securing and managing Docker containers.

And, if you need a course to go along with this book then Docker for the Absolute Beginner — Hands-On — DevOps is a nice course to read along with this book.

4. Docker: Up and Running

The book was written by Karl Matthias and Sean P. Kane and is all about the advanced and practical aspects of Docker. If you are a newbie then this is not the right fit for you.

It tackles Docker concepts like how to keep internal dependencies, package applications, and maintain a consistent project environment during local testing and deployment.

It also teaches Docker on several levels such that it makes dependency management very simple for deploying workflow for applications. Like with the previous books, it covers how to excel working with Docker images, containers, and command-line tools with the use of practical techniques to deploy and test Docker-based Linux containers in production.

If you are done with all the basics and you still want more, then checking out Docker Mastery: with Kubernetes and Swarm course still have some more advanced concepts. The courses are taught in very simple English and by a Docker captain himself, which makes it a nice companion of this book, particularly for people who wants to learn Docker in-depth.

5. Docker Deep Dive by Nigel Poulton

As the name entails, this book offers one a chance to become the grandmaster of Docker. It is also touted as the best Docker book online. It offers lessons on the deeper and advanced parts of Docker and tackles setups like AS,(automated server).

This book is useful for both beginners and experts. If you want to learn Docker from scratch, you can use this book and if you want to learn Docker in-depth then also this is a useful book.

The best part of this book is that it’s updated regularly which is very important to learn something like Docker which is constantly updated. The book provides an in-depth explanation of Docker architecture and deep dive into concepts like Docker images and containers.

It also covers Networking, Security, and Volumes. This book also covers the Docker Certified Associate (DCA) certification, which means you can also use this book if you are preparing for Docker certification.

The book is written by Docker Captain and leading educator in the container ecosystem Nigel Poulton, who is also created some of the best Docker online courses like Getting Started with Docker and Docker Deep Dive on Pluralsight.

If you like you can combine this book with those courses to learn Docker better with some active learning exercises and explanations from none other than Nigel Poulton, author of this book.

That’s all about the best books to learn Docker for beginners. As I have said before, Docker is an essential skill for every programmer as more and more companies are switching to container-based deployment.

If you can, I highly recommend you to learn Kubernetes as well because Docker and Kubernetes go along nicely as nobody deploys containers manually nowadays they use Kubernetes to deploy containers at scale.

Other DevOps, Cloud, and Programming Courses you may like

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you find these Docker books useful then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.

P. S. — If you prefer online courses over books or just want to do some active learning then I also recommend you check out Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide course by Maximillian Scwarzmuller on Udemy. It’s one of the best and up-to-date courses to learn both Docker and Kubernetes.

Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide

Starting out at the age of 13 I never stopped learning new programming skills and languages. Early I started creating…

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