Head First (book series). Head First is a series of introductory instructional books to many topics, published by O'Reilly Media. It stresses an unorthodox, visually intensive, reader-involving combination of puzzles, jokes, nonstandard design and layout, and an engaging, conversational style to immerse the reader in a given topic.

Originally, the series covered programming and software engineering, but is now expanding to other topics in science, mathematics and business, due to success. The series was created by Bert Bates and Kathy Sierra, and began with Head First Java in 2003.

Concept 
The main idea of the series is to effectively stimulate the brain by:

 Telling stories
 Visualizing
 Using attention-grabbing tactics: page layout, non-standard examples, puzzles, jokes, and other means.

By using metacognition the series' authors and editors try to employ varied methods to present information and accelerate the learning process.

Books 
The offerings in the Head First series are quickly expanding. The books are also delving into subjects that are not directly related to IT, such as Math (Head First Algebra, Head First Statistics), Science (Head First Physics) and project management (Head First PMP).  The books are also gaining some popularity for classroom use  because of their novel approach to their subject matters.

The official web site for the Head First series has forums for each book as well as code downloads and sample chapters. They include:

 Head First Agile () by Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene
 Head First Ajax () by Rebecca Riordan
 Head First Algebra () by Dan Pilone and Tracey Pilone
 Head First Android Development () by Dawn Griffiths and David Griffiths
 Head First C () by David Griffiths and Dawn Griffiths
 Head First C# () by Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene
 Head First Data Analysis () by Michael Milton
 Head First Design Patterns () by Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Freeman, Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
 Head First EJB () by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
 Head First Excel () by Michael Milton
 Head First 2D Geometry () by Lindsey Fallow and Dawn Griffiths
 Head First Git () by Raju Gandhi
 Head First Go () by Jay McGavren
 Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML () by Elisabeth Freeman and Eric Freeman
 Head First HTML5 Programming () by Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Robson
 Head First iPhone Development () by Dan Pilone and Tracey Pilone
 Head First iPhone and iPad Development () by Dan Pilone and Tracey Pilone
 Head First Java () by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
 Head First JavaScript () by Michael Morrison (Out of Print)
 Head First JavaScript Programming () by Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Freeman
 Head First jQuery () by Ryan Benedetti and Ronan Cranley
 Head First Kotlin () by Dawn Griffiths and David Griffiths 
 Head First Learn to Code () by Eric Freeman
 Head First Mobile Web () by Lyza Danger Gardner, Jason Grigsby
 Head First Networking () by Ryan Benedetti, Al Anderson
 Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design () by Brett McLaughlin, Gary Pollice and David West
 Head First PHP & MySQL () by Lynn Beighley and Michael Morrison
 Head First Physics () by Heather Lang
 Head First PMP () by Jennifer Greene and Andrew Stellman
 Head First Programming () by Paul Barry and David Griffiths
 Head First Python () by Paul Barry
 Head First Rails () by David Griffiths
 Head First Servlets & JSP () by Bryan Basham, Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
 Head First Software Development () by Dan Pilone and Russ Miles
 Head First SQL  () by Lynn Beighley
 Head First Statistics () by Dawn Griffiths
 Head First Web Design () by Ethan Watrall and Jeff Siarto
 Head First WordPress () by Jeff Siarto

Head First Labs 
O'Reilly established Head First Labs, where books of the series are presented and the main idea behind the series is explained.  The Labs also hosts blogs by some of their authors and hosts some applets that complement their books.

Awards 
The books in the series have received three nominations for Product Excellence Jolt Awards, winning in 2005 for Head First Design Patterns, and were recognized on Amazon.com's yearly top 10 list for computer books from 2003 to 2005.

References

External links
 

Computer books
O'Reilly Media books
Java (programming language)
Book series