8 Best Books on Building Microservices in 2024

Microservices are small, autonomous services that work together and structure an application as a collection of loosely coupled services.

Microservices architecture provides a modern way of building highly scalable applications. It enables the rapid, frequent, and reliable delivery of large, complex applications. It also enables an organization to evolve its technology stack.

If you want to learn about Microservices in-depth and are looking for the best Microservices books then you have come to the right place.

 

Why learn Microservices?

We are going to give you some reasons why you should learn Microservices.

  • Easy to build and maintain applications: Microservices resolves organizational based issues, making it easy to debug and test applications.

  • High-paying jobs: Senior Software Engineers can grab excellent high-paying jobs for Microservices. Not only at an individual level, but, many hyper-growth companies such as Netflix, eBay, PayPal, Twitter, Amazon use microservices in their structure.

  • Flexibility: A microservices architecture encourages to use of the most appropriate technology for the specific needs of the service. Each service has the freedom to use its own language, framework, or ancillary services.

  • Provides granular scaling: If you talk about scalability, then microservices outperform many other architectural choices out there. You can scale up a single function or service without having to scale the entire application.

  • Reduced risk: Each service is a separate entity in the microservices framework, and this allows localized changes, higher confidence in the quality, and end-to-end regression scenarios. So, even if one service or component of the application is down, then, the complete application doesn’t go down.

 

What Makes Best Microservices Books?

Depending upon the reader’s background, book’s style, and content coverage, different books will resonate with different people. Here are our criteria for the selection of the books:

  • Use clear, precise, and easy-to-understand language

  • Thoroughly teach and explain the basic concepts of microservices 

  • Contain exercises, examples, and practice problems for hands-on experience

  • Enable to hold the attention of readers

  • Well-structured and friendly toward self-taught programmers

 

Best Books on Microservices

There are many books around building Microservices but here is a list of major ones that every developer should read.

 

1. Best book for microservice practitioners: Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems

Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems by Sam Newman gives a broad overview of all aspects related to microservices. The book dives into the latest solutions for modeling, integrating, testing, deploying, and monitoring your own autonomous services.

After reading the book, you'll be able to

  • Get new information on user interfaces, container orchestration, and serverless

  • Align system design with your organization's goals

  • Explore options for integrating a service with your system

  • Understand how to independently deploy microservices

  • Examine the complexities of testing and monitoring distributed services

  • Manage security with expanded content around user-to-service and service-to-service models

The book is divided into sixteen chapters and includes the following topics:

Part I: Foundation

  • Chapter 1 gives the introduction of Microservices

  • Chapter 2 talks about how to model Microservices

  • Chapter 3 talks about splitting the Monolith

  • Chapter 4 covers Microservice communication styles

Part II: Implementation

  • Chapter 5 talks about Implementing Microservice Communication

  • Chapter 6 covers Workflow

  • Chapter 7 talks about Build

  • Chapter 8 talks about Deployment

  • Chapter 9 is about Testing

  • Chapter 10 talks about Monitoring to Observability

  • Chapter 11 is on Security

  • Chapter 12 covers Resiliency

  • Chapter 13 is on Scaling

Part III: People

  • Chapter 14 covers user interfaces

  • Chapter 15 covers organizational structures

  • Chapter 16 covers the evolutionary architect

You’ll follow a fictional company throughout the book to learn how building a microservice architecture affects a single domain. The writing is elegant, clear and explained in a surprisingly simple way. This is a must-read book for anyone who wants to be engaged in Microservices.

 
 

2. Best book for Java developers: Building Microservices with Micronaut

Building Microservices with Micronaut is a September 2021 book by Nirmal Singh and Zack Dawood that helps developers build modular, high-performing, and reactive microservice-based apps using the Micronaut framework. After reading the book, you'll be able to:

  • Understand why the Micronaut framework is best suited for building microservices

  • Build web endpoints and services in the Micronaut framework

  • Safeguard microservices using Session, JWT, and OAuth in Micronaut projects

  • Get to grips with event-driven architecture in Micronaut applications

  • Discover how to automate testing at various levels using built-in tools and testing frameworks

  • Deploy your microservices to containers and cloud platforms

  • Become well-versed with distributed logging, tracing, and monitoring in Micronaut projects

  • Get hands-on with the IoT using Alexa and the Micronaut framework

The book is divided into eleven chapters and includes the following topics:

  • Chapter 1 helps you to get started with microservices using the Micronauts framework

  • Chapter 2 talks about working on data access

  • Chapter 3 talks about working on the RESTful web services

  • Chapter 4 talks about securing the Microservices

  • Chapter 5 talks about integrating microservices using the event-driven architecture

  • Chapter 6 talks about testing the microservices

  • Chapter 7 talks about handling microservice concerns

  • Chapter 8 talks about deploying microservices

  • Chapter 9 covers distributed logging, tracing, and monitoring

  • Chapter 10 covers IoT with Micronaut

  • Chapter 11 talks about building enterprise-grade microservices

By the end of this book, you'll be able to build, test, deploy, and maintain your own microservice apps using the framework. Intermediate-level knowledge of Java programming and implementing web services development in Java is required.

 

3. Best book for visual learners: Microservices Patterns: With examples in Java

Microservices Patterns by Chris Richardson teaches how to develop and deploy reliable production-quality microservices-based applications, with worked examples in Java. The author uses a pragmatic approach to the benefits and drawbacks of microservices architecture.

Here's what you'll learn from the book:

  • How to use microservices architecture

  • Service decomposition strategies

  • Transaction management and querying patterns

  • Effective testing strategies

  • Deployment patterns

The book features 44 design patterns for building and deploying microservices applications. Patterns are presented both visually and in Java code. The sample application is not a collection of random examples but a full-size, mini microservice web application. The topics are divided into thirteen chapters:

  • Chapter 1 talks about escaping monolithic hell

  • Chapter 2 covers Decomposition strategies

  • Chapter 3 covers Interprocess communication in a microservice architecture

  • Chapter 4 talks about managing transactions with sagas

  • Chapter 5 talks about designing business logic in a microservice architecture

  • Chapter 6 talks about developing business logic with event sourcing

  • Chapter 7 talks about implementing queries in a microservice architecture

  • Chapter 8 covers External API patterns

  • Chapter 9 talks about Testing microservices

  • Chapter 10 continues with the Testing microservices

  • Chapter 11 talks about developing production-ready services

  • Chapter 12 talks about deploying microservices

  • Chapter 13 talks about refactoring to microservices

The book is well structured and easy to read. It's a great book to understand the fundamentals of microservices. Readers should be familiar with the basics of enterprise application architecture, design, and implementation.

 

4. Best book for completionists: Building Microservices with ASP.NET Core: Develop, Test, and Deploy Cross-Platform Services in the Cloud

Building Microservices with ASP.NET Core by Kevin Hoffman shows you how to create, test, compile, and deploy microservices, using the ASP.NET Core free and open-source framework.

In this book, you’ll start with the basic building blocks of any service, and then learn how to turn them into more powerful and robust services. Here's what you'll get from the book:

  • Learn test-driven and API-first development concepts

  • Communicate with other services by creating and consuming backing services such as databases and queues

  • Build a microservice that depends on an external data source

  • Learn about event sourcing, the event-centric approach to persistence

  • Use ASP.NET Core to build web applications designed to thrive in the cloud

  • Build a service that consumes, or is consumed by, other services

  • Create services and applications that accept external configuration

  • Explore ways to secure ASP.NET Core microservices and applications

The book is divided into twelve chapters and includes the following topics:

  • Chapter 1 covers ASP.NET Core Primer

  • Chapter 2 talks about building Services with Wercker and continuous integration with CircleCI

  • Chapter 3 talks about building a Microservice with ASP.NET Core

  • Chapter 4 talks about Backing Services

  • Chapter 5 talks about creating a Data Service

  • Chapter 6 covers Event Sourcing and CQRS

  • Chapter 7 talks about Building an ASP.NET Core Web Application

  • Chapter 8 covers Service Discovery

  • Chapter 9 talks about Configuring Microservice Ecosystems

  • Chapter 10 talks about securing Applications and Microservices

  • Chapter 11 talks about building Real-Time Apps and Services

  • Chapter 12 concludes the book by putting it all together

Along the way, you’ll pick up good, practical habits for building powerful and robust services.

 

5. Best Books for Analytical Thinkers: Microservice APIs: Using Python, Flask, FastAPI, OpenAPI and more

Microservice APIs by Jose Haro Peralta teaches you the patterns, protocols, and strategies you need to design, build, and deploy effective REST and GraphQL microservices APIs. The book has an easy to follow writing style and is written in a framework-agnostic manner with Python-based examples. Its universal principles can easily be applied to your favorite stack and toolset.

The book gives practical techniques for designing robust microservices with APIs that are easy to understand, consume, and maintain. Here is what you’ll learn from the book:

Service decomposition strategies for microservices

  • Documentation-driven development for APIs

  • Best practices for designing REST and GraphQL APIs

  • Documenting REST APIs with the OpenAPI specification (formerly Swagger)

  • Documenting GraphQL APIs using the Schema Definition Language

  • Building microservices APIs with Flask, FastAPI, Ariadne, and other frameworks

  • Service implementation patterns for loosely coupled services

  • Property-based testing to validate your APIs, and using automated API testing frameworks like schemathesis and Dredd

  • Adding authentication and authorization to your microservice APIs using OAuth and OpenID Connect (OIDC)

  • Deploying and operating microservices in AWS with Docker and Kubernetes

The book is divided into four sections and 14 chapters.

Part 1 is about introducing Microservice APIs

  • Chapter 1 gives an introduction to microservice APIs

  • Chapter 2 covers a basic API implementation

  • Chapter 3 talks about Designing microservices

Part 2 talks about designing and building REST APIs with Python

  • Chapter 4 covers Principles of REST API design

  • Chapter 5 talks about Documenting REST APIs with OpenAPI

  • Chapter 6 talks about Building REST APIs with Python

  • Chapter 7 covers Service implementation patterns for microservices

Part 3 covers designng and building GraphQL APIs

  • Chapter 8 talks about Designing GraphQL APIs

  • Chapter 9 talks about Consuming GraphQL APIs

  • Chapter 10 teaches how to build GraphQL APIs with Python

Part 4 talks about securing, testing, and deploying Microservice APIs

  • Chapter 11 covers API authorization and authentication

  • Chapter 12 covers Testing and validating APIs

  • Chapter 13 talks about Dockerizing microservice APIs

  • Chapter 14 talks about Deploying microservice APIs with Kubernetes

This practical guide addresses all aspects of building microservice APIs. It is for developers familiar with the basics of web development.

 

6. Best book for serious learners: Building Event-Driven Microservices: Leveraging Organizational Data at Scale

Building Event-Driven Microservices by Adam Bellemare teaches how to leverage large-scale data usage across the business units in your organization using the principles of event-driven microservices.

The book takes you through the process of building an event-driven microservice-powered organization. 

Here's what you'll learn from the book:

  • How to leverage event-driven architectures to deliver exceptional business value

  • The role of microservices in supporting event-driven designs

  • Architectural patterns to ensure success both within and between teams in your organization

  • Application patterns for developing powerful event-driven microservices

  • Components and tooling required to get your microservice ecosystem off the ground

There are seventeen chapters in the book and includes the following contents:

  • Chapter 1 gives you an introduction to Event-Driven Microservices

  • Chapter 2 covers Event-Driven Microservice Fundamentals

  • Chapter 3 covers Communication and Data Contracts

  • Chapter 4 talks about integrating Event-Driven Architectures with Existing Systems

  • Chapter 5 covers Event-Driven Processing Basics

  • Chapter 6 talks about Deterministic Stream Processing

  • Chapter 7 covers Stateful Streaming

  • Chapter 8 talks about building workflows with Microservices

  • Chapter 9 covers Microservices Using Function-as-a-Service

  • Chapter 10 covers Basic Producer and Consumer Microservices

  • Chapter 11 covers Heavyweight Framework Microservices

  • Chapter 12 covers Lightweight Framework Microservices

  • Chapter 13 talks about integrating Event-Driven and Request-Response Microservices

  • Chapter 14 covers Supportive Tooling

  • Chapter 15 talks about Testing Event-Driven Microservices

  • Chapter 16 talks about deploying Event-Driven Microservices

  • Chapter 17 is the conclusion of the topics

The book is recommended for anyone dealing with big data. 

 

7. Best Book for Microservices Implementers: Microservices: Up and Running

Microservices: Up and Running by Ronnie Mitra, Irakli Nadareishvili provide step-by-step guidance for building an effective microservices architecture. The book offers a practical, prescriptive model that spans team design, domain design, infrastructure, engineering, and release.

It gives you a unified view of a microservices implementation and a strong first step in your journey to adoption. Here is what you’ll learn from the book:

  • Learn an effective and explicit end-to-end microservices system design

  • Define teams, their responsibilities, and guidelines for working together

  • Understand how to slice a big application into a collection of microservices

  • Examine how to isolate and embed data into corresponding microservices

  • Build a simple yet powerful CI/CD pipeline for infrastructure changes

  • Write code for sample microservices

  • Deploy a working microservices application on Amazon Web Services

The book is divided into 12 chapters and include the following topics:

  • aChapter 1 talks about Microservices Architecture

  • Chapter 2 talks about designing a Microservices Operating Model

  • Chapter 3 covers the SEEDS Process

  • Chapter 4 talks about finding Service Boundaries

  • Chapter 5 talks about dealing with the Data

  • Chapter 6 talks about building an Infrastructure Pipeline

  • Chapter 7 talks about building a Microservices Infrastructure

  • Chapter 8 covers the Developer Workspace

  • Chapter 9 talks about Developing Microservices

  • Chapter 10 talks about releasing Microservices

  • Chapter 11 talks about Managing Change

  • Chapter 12 talks about Complexity and Simplification Using Microservices

The focus of the book is on practical design and engineering. If you are an architect or engineer tasked with building microservices or a microservices architecture, this is the book for you. It is also a useful guide for readers who simply want to get “up close and personal” with a microservices implementation.

 

8. Best Book for Hands-on Learners: Microservices with Spring Boot 3 and Spring Cloud - Third Edition

Microservices with Spring Boot 3 and Spring Cloud by by Magnus Larsson guides you to create and deploy production-grade microservices-based applications using Spring Cloud, Istio, and Kubernetes. You'll begin with simple microservices and progress to complex distributed applications.

Beyond being a proficient coding manual, it equips you with all the basic information to adopt every presented tool. This book covers Java 17, Spring Boot 3, and Spring Cloud 2022.

The code is hosted on GitHub, has been updated recently, and is easy to follow along with. To get started, you need some prior experience in building apps with Java or Spring Boot. After reading the book, you’ll be able to:

  • Build reactive microservices using Spring Boot

  • Develop resilient and scalable microservices using Spring Cloud

  • Use OAuth 2.1/OIDC and Spring Security to protect public APIs

  • Implement Docker to bridge the gap between development, testing, and production

  • Deploy and manage microservices with Kubernetes

  • Apply Istio for improved security, observability, and traffic management

  • Write and run automated microservice tests with JUnit, test containers, Gradle, and bash

  • Use Spring AOT and GraalVM to native compile the microservices

  • Use Micrometer Tracing for distributed tracing

The book is written in an easy-to-understand style with step-by-step tutorials. It is an invaluable asset for mastering Spring-based microservices. This book is a must-read for developers and architects.

 

More ways to learn Microservices

We hope our book curation will help you to pick the right book to learn Microservices. When it comes to Microservices, there are some awesome online resources as well.

We also suggest over 70 coding resources that are free online.

That wraps our article about some of the best books to learn Microservices. It is hard to say which is the best book as it depends upon your background and choice. With the great selection of Microservices books and courses, the learning opportunities are endless.

 
Miranda Limonczenko

Miranda is the founder of Books on Code, with a mission to bring book-lover culture to programmers. Learn more by checking out Miranda on LinkedIn.

http://booksoncode.com
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