Recommended PowerShell Books
I speak to a lot of customers about PowerShell and frequently get asked for tips on further reading. Now, there are many great web resources for PowerShell, but as someone who’s early years were definitely pre-internet, I still have a great love of real physical books and actually prefer them to on-screen text for extended reading sessions (though I’m also loving my Kindle). I’ll leave you to search for appropriate on-line material, and present below (in no particular order) my four top recommendations for PowerShell books:
Windows PowerShell 2.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant – William R Stanek
I think this may have been the first PowerShell 2.0 book released. Certainly it was the first one I remember reading. While not quite ‘pocket sized’ (unless you’re the BFG), it is still small enough to easily fit into your bag or sit unobtrusively on your desk/shelf. And, even if it’s not physically big, it packs a lot into its 480 pages. Focussing on PowerShell syntax and Windows administration there are sections on managing the PowerShell environment, system services, the Registry, files, shares, processes and much more.
A great quick reference.
Windows PowerShell in Action – Bruce Payette
Whenever the question of PowerShell books is raised on our internal discussion group, this book is almost always the first to be recommended, and with good reason.
Written by Bruce Payette, principal developer on the PowerShell team, this is the book to read if you really want to understand how PowerShell works and why. Ever wondered why jobs all seem to be odd-numbered? Or why PowerShell doesn’t use ‘>’ and ‘<’ for comparisons? Would you like to write your own PowerShell modules? If so, you’ll find the answers in Windows PowerShell in Action.
Not for scripting newbies, but highly recommended none-the-less.
Windows PowerShell Cookbook – Lee Holmes
If you’re not looking for the type of in-depth discussion Bruce provides and just want to know how to perform a particular task, then this updated version of Lee' Holmes excellent cookbook is the place to look.
Again, Lee is a senior member of the PowerShell team at Microsoft (no I’m not on commission), and he provides a vast array of useful scripts covering everything from a ‘guided tour of PowerShell’ for beginners, to advanced topics such as creating your own cmdlets and compiling in-line C# code.
Essential reference for any serious PowerShell user.
PowerShell in Practice – Richard Siddaway
My list of recommended reading is deliberately short, but even with only four books, a common follow-up question I get is “which single book should I buy?” Well, if you want to limit yourself to one PowerShell book, then I would recommend this one.
This book by Richard Siddaway, PowerShell MVP from the UK, is a great balance between a tutorial for learning PowerShell and a cookbook with many excellent sample scripts for particular tasks.
Clearly aimed at administrators doing their day-to-day work, PowerShell in Practice covers many useful topics, including some barely/not mentioned in the other books (e.g. managing DNS, IIS, Hyper-V and Exchange servers, )
If you have ever attended one of my talks/workshops you will have seen the (quite basic) slide-set I use when discussing these. Get a copy of that here:
If you’ve read any of these and have your own opinion, or can recommend other good books, please comment below.