This remains one of the most important books software engineers can read. The second edition is even better than the first, updated to fix a lot of the "outdated" criticisms the first book gets, incorporating the modern DevOps movement, microservices, and modern technologies used in software engineering.

I really just can't say enough about this book. It's required reading. If you're responsible for code that runs on networked production systems, failing to read this book should be a fireable offense. Skipping "Release It!" is professional negligence. Stop what you're doing and read this before shipping another line of code.

Release It! is all about how to build cynical software, and once you start down that path you find that you can no longer think any other way. This book changes you and your career, it's just phenomenal. Even if you think you know everything in it because the patterns and practices it describes have become widespread, it's still worth reading.

The second edition fixes - or at least somewhat improves - every minor complaint I had about the first edition, and reorganizes the information, adds a lot of great new sections, and removes outdated cruft. It's superior to the first edition in every way, and that was a 5-star book for me.