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11 Best Hadoop Books of 2024 [Learn Apache Hadoop ASAP]

Today we’re looking at the best Hadoop books for this year.

🧠 Did you know? According to OpenSource, Hadoop was the name of creator Doug Cutting’s child’s stuffed elephant.

🐘 What is Hadoop?

Hadoop is an open source Apache framework used for storing and processing big data.

Rather than use one large computer, Hadoop uses distributed storage, or clusters of multiple computers, to analyze datasets.

🐘 What companies use Hadoop?

According to StackShare, there are hundreds of major companies that use Hadoop including:

🚀 Spotify

🚀 Uber

🚀 Netflix

🚀 Twitter

🚀 Airbnb

And many more.

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TLDR: Best Hadoop Books

🔥 Best Overall 🔥
Hadoop: The Definitive Guide

💥 Best for Newbies 💥

Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours

💸 Best Value 💸

Hadoop Practice Guide

Note: These best Hadoop books are organized from beginner to intermediate and advanced.

🐘 Beginner Hadoop Books

The following books are some of the best Hadoop books for beginners.

1. Hadoop: The Definitive Guide

↘️ Ideal for: programmers and administrators, new and experienced Hadoop users
↘️
Topics covered: MapReduce, YARN, data formats

While Hadoop: The Definitive Guide covers Hadoop 2, we think this is still one of the best Hadoop books for getting started.

And once you have the basics down, you can learn Hadoop 3 concepts with Apache Hadoop 3 Quick Start Guide.

  • for new and experienced Hadoop users
  • covers MapReduce and YARN
  • build scalable distributed systems

➡️ In our opinion, Hadoop: The Definitive Guide is one of the best Hadoop books for learning the fundamentals.

You’ll start by learning about core Hadoop components such as YARN and MapReduce.

🐘 Interactivity more your speed? Check out the hands-on course Introduction to Big Data and Hadoop on Educative.io.

Then you’ll explore how to run clusters.

In addition, you’ll learn data formats for data sterilization and nesting data.

Finally, you’ll use data ingestion tools for streaming data and bulk data transfers.

By the end of Hadoop: The Definitive Guide, you should be able to build and maintain scalable distributed systems using Hadoop.


2. Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours

↘️ Ideal for: Hadoop newbies
↘️
Topics covered: Hadoop fundamentals, Apache Spark, MapReduce

Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours is a bit different than Hadoop: The Definitive Guide.

While both are introductions to Hadoop, Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours doesn’t go as deep into Hadoop concepts.

  • dive into Hadoop fundamentals
  • learn Apache Spark
  • deploy Hadoop in the cloud
  • learn in 24 hours (!)

➡️ Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours is perhaps one of the best Hadoop books for absolute beginners.

It contains 24 lessons that each take on average an hour to complete.

You’ll learn all about Hadoop and the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).

In addition, you’ll explore MapReduce and implementing YARN.

Diagram of the Hadoop ecosystem in Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours

You’ll also discover how to:

✅ deploy Hadoop in the cloud

✅ import and process data in Hadoop

✅ take advantage of the Hadoop ecosystem

✅ manage Hadoop clusters with Apache Ambari

✅ scale, secure and troubleshoot Hadoop environments

And much, much more.

Finally, you’ll explore Apache Spark.

By the end of this book, you should be able to build fully functional Hadoop clusters in real datasets and programs.

What this Hadoop user thinks about Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours:

“Phenomenal book. Excellent job by the author in covering the whole ecosystem in a simplified cogent form…”

redstone

3. Hadoop Practice Guide

↘️ Ideal for: Hadoop newbies
↘️
Topics covered: core components, commands, CRUD operations

Like Hadoop: The Definitive Guide and Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours, Hadoop Practice Guide is for absolute beginners.

But Hadoop Practice Guide considers itself a reference guide for Hadoop tools like:

Sqoop

Pig

Hive

HBase

Best Value: Hadoop Practice Guide

hadoop books hadoop practice guide cover with cartoon magnifying glass
  • learn core Hadoop components and commands
  • discover Hadoop tools
  • start your own Hadoop projects

➡️ Hadoop Practice Guide is possibly one of the best Hadoop books for developers on a budget.

With this hands-on guide, you’ll start by installing Hadoop.

Then you’ll explore Hadoop’s core components and general commands. After that, you’ll dive into import and export commands, Pig Latin commands, queries and outputs.

By the end of Hadoop Practice Guide, you should be able to begin your own Hadoop projects.


4. Apache Hadoop 3 Quick Start Guide

↘️ Ideal for: Hadoop newbies, aspiring big data professionals
↘️
Topics covered: HDFS, MapReduce, YARN

In our opinion, Apache Hadoop 3 Quick Start Guide is the next logical step after reading Hadoop: The Definitive Guide.

That’s because The Definitive Guide covers the fundamentals possibly better than any other book on our list.

Then you can level up to Hadoop 3 with this book.

➡️ In our opinion, Apache Hadoop 3 Quick Start Guide is one of the best Hadoop books for learning Hadoop 3.

You’ll start with the basics like how to set up and get started with Hadoop.

Hadoop code sample in Apache Hadoop 3 Quick Start Guide

Then you’ll discover HDFS, MapReduce and YARN to store and analyze data at scale.

You’ll also:

✅ monitor a Hadoop cluster

✅ consume and analyze streaming data using Storm and Spark

✅ examine Hadoop ecosystem components like Flume, Sqoop and Kafka

And beyond.

By the end of Apache Hadoop 3 Quick Start Guide, you should have a firm grasp on different Hadoop 3 cluster configurations.


5. Practical Data Science with Hadoop and Spark

↘️ Ideal for: Hadoop and Spark newbies
↘️
Topics covered: Hadoop and Spark

Practical Data Science with Hadoop and Spark is a little different than every other book on our list.

That’s because you’ll learn about Hadoop and Spark in equal amounts.

➡️ We think Practical Data Science with Hadoop and Spark is one of the best Hadoop books for a general overview of Hadoop and Spark.

You can expect to go real light here by starting off with what data science is and its evolution.

Data scientist skillset diagram in Practical Data Science with Hadoop and Spark

After going over the basics, you’ll get into Hadoop and its ecosystem.

Then you’ll discover how Hive and Spark are used for data importation.

You’ll also explore:

✅ data visualization

machine learning

✅ predictive modeling

✅ cluster analysis

And more.

By the end of Practical Data Science with Hadoop and Spark, you should have a basic understanding of designing and building analytics at scale.


🐘 Intermediate Hadoop Books

The following are the best intermediate Hadoop books we could find.

6. Data Analytics with Hadoop

↘️ Ideal for: intermediate Hadoop users
↘️
Topics covered: design patterns, data management, machine learning

In Data Analytics with Hadoop, you’ll explore design patterns, data management and machine learning using Hadoop.

➡️ Data Analytics with Hadoop is perhaps one of the best Hadoop books for intermediate Hadoop users.

First you’ll tear into the core fundamentals of cluster computing and Hadoop.

Diagram of the data science pipeline in Data Analytics with Hadoop

Second, you’ll learn how to create distributed data analysis jobs using parallel analytical algorithms and design patterns.

After that, you’ll explore:

✅ data management, mining and warehousing

✅ consuming data from relational databases

✅ programming complex Spark and Hadoop applications

Finally, you’ll use MLlib to perform classification, clustering, and collaborative filtering.


7. Practical Hadoop Ecosystem

↘️ Ideal for: intermediate Hadoop users
↘️
Topics covered: Hadoop frameworks and tools

Practical Hadoop Ecosystem is the only book on our list that focuses exclusively on Hadoop frameworks and tools.

➡️ We think Practical Hadoop Ecosystem is one of the best Hadoop books focusing on the bulk of Hadoop’s ecosystem.

While most books focus on MapReduce, Hive and HDFS, Practical Hadoop Ecosystem goes deep into the ecosystem while also showing you:

Apache Mahout

Apache Solr

✅ Kafka

Diagram of the Hadoop ecosystem in Practical Hadoop Ecosystem

In each chapter, you’ll set up environments and run sample applications.

While exploring each ecosystem project individually, you’ll also discover how they all work together.


8. Hadoop Application Architectures

↘️ Ideal for: intermediate Hadoop users
↘️
Topics covered: frameworks, best practices, workflow orchestration

Hadoop Application Architectures is a practical book that walks you through combining Hadoop components to build world-class applications.

➡️ Hadoop Application Architectures is perhaps one of the best Hadoop books for building real-world big data applications.

Packed with practical examples of architectures used in popular Hadoop applications, you’ll learn how to design your own app or integrate Hadoop into an existing infrastructure.

You’ll also explore:

✅ best practices for moving data

✅ data processing frameworks

✅ Hadoop processing patterns

✅ graph processing

✅ workflow orchestration

And much more.


9. Hadoop in Practice

↘️ Ideal for: intermediate Hadoop users
↘️
Topics covered: machine learning, taming big data, best practices

Like Hadoop Application Architectures, Hadoop in Practice shows you how to use your skills to create powerful Hadoop applications.

But with Hadoop in Practice, you’ll learn 104 techniques for:

✅ analyzing real-world streams

✅ securely moving data

✅ machine learning

✅ managing large-scale clusters

✅ taming big data

And much, much more.

➡️ In our opinion, Hadoop in Practice is one of the best Hadoop books for putting your Hadoop application in motion.

In addition to learning those 104 useful techniques, you’ll learn about best practices for integrating Spark, Kafka and Impala.

Hadoop distributed system in Hadoop in Practice

You’ll also discover how to write YARN applications.

Finally, you’ll use Mahout and RR for predictive analytics.


🐘 Advanced Hadoop Books

Finally, we finish this list of best Hadoop books with two advanced books.

10. Mastering Hadoop 3

↘️ Ideal for: advanced Hadoop users
↘️
Topics covered: handling high data volumes, Kafka, low latency

We think Mastering Hadoop 3 is the next logical step after reading Hadoop Application Architectures or Hadoop in Practice.

➡️ We believe Mastering Hadoop 3 is one of the best Hadoop books for advanced Hadoop users.

You’ll start with an introduction to features new to Hadoop 3.

Then you’ll learn about the internal workings of Hadoop before diving into advanced concepts surrounding different tools of the Hadoop ecosystem.

Using real-world use cases, you’ll learn how to address challenges such as:

✅ using Kafka efficiently

✅ designing low latency

✅ handling high data volumes

And more.

By the end of Mastering Hadoop 3, you’ll learn how to implement a fast, reliable pipeline using the Hadoop ecosystem.


11. Expert Hadoop Administration

↘️ Ideal for: advanced Hadoop users
↘️
Topics covered: Hadoop administration

Expert Hadoop Administration is different than any other book on our list because it covers Hadoop administration.

A Hadoop administrator is responsible for keeping Hadoop clusters running smoothly during production.

➡️ Expert Hadoop Administration is one of the best Hadoop books for Hadoop administration.

Packed with problems and solutions, you’ll discover how to:

  • create
  • configure
  • secure
  • manage

And optimize Hadoop clusters.

Hadoop cluster architecture in Expert Hadoop Administration

You’ll get behind-the-scene insights while you build clusters from scratch while configuring:

✅ high availability

✅ performance

✅ security

✅ encryption

And beyond.


Best Hadoop Books: Conclusion

Today we looked at the best Hadoop books including:

🔥 Best Overall 🔥
Hadoop: The Definitive Guide

💥 Best for Newbies 💥

Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours

💸 Best Value 💸

Hadoop Practice Guide

So whether you’re just getting started with Hadoop or are ready to master it, we think these are the best Hadoop books around.

Readers of Best Hadoop Books are also reading:

  1. What are the best Hadoop books this year?

    In our opinion, the three best books include the following: For best overall, we liked Hadoop: The Definitive Guide. For newbies, we enjoyed Sams Teach Yourself Hadoop in 24 Hours. And for best value, we chose Hadoop Practice Guide. Learn more about these and other Hadoop books in today’s post.

  2. What is Hadoop?

    Hadoop is an open source Apache framework used for storing and processing big data. Rather than use one large computer, Hadoop uses distributed storage, or clusters of multiple computers, to analyze datasets. To get started learning Hadoop, check out today’s article where we picked our favorite Hadoop books of this year.

  3. What companies use Hadoop?

    According to StackShare, there are hundreds of major companies that use Hadoop including Spotify, Uber, Netflix, Twitter, Airbnb and many more. Tune into today’s article where you’ll discover what we think are some of the best Hadoop books on the market this year.

  4. What is a Hadoop administrator?

    Simply put, a Hadoop administrator is responsible for keeping Hadoop clusters running smoothly during production. Learn more about advanced Hadoop administration in the book Expert Hadoop Administration published by Addison-Wesley. You’ll find this and other Hadoop books in today’s post.