We did a bit of a count recently and it turns out that The MagPi magazine has produced more than 3,200 pages of Raspberry Pi-related reading. That’s a lot of quality content (even if I do say so myself).

While we’re rather proud of this achievement, we’re also very aware of the fact that these lovingly crafted collections of words and pictures can very easily get lost in the mists of time (or in the recycling bin).

The first four MagPi Essentials books taught us how to use the command line, make games, experiment with the Sense HAT, and even code music with Sonic Pi

So, in 2015, we set out to make sure all the essential reading from the magazine wasn’t consigned to a dusty and dog-eared pile under the coffee table. Enter the MagPi Essentials range! They’re bite-sized books that build on the best articles in the magazine and mould them into a cohesive, easily digested form.

We’ve recently been hard at work putting the finishing touches on the latest batch, and I’m excited to report that the fifth to eighth books are out in hard copy now! We’ll spare you the minute details on each title in the series here, but I’ve hijacked the ‘You might also like’ doohickey on the right so you can read up on each book individually.

Shiny new books! Well, the cover’s actually a matt laminate… Learn to code with Scratch, hack and make with Minecraft, do electronics using GPIO Zero, and program with C in our latest range.

Want them? Point your mouse fingers towards The Pi Hut or Amazon. You can even grab them directly from The MagPi’s own little lemonade stand if you want. Like everything else Raspberry Pi, they’re also super-affordable: £2.99 on our Apple and Android apps, or £3.99 in print. Not sure you can afford them all? You can also download each book as a free PDF too: just click on the appropriate link in our catalogue.

All of these books are available now. Have a read while we crack on with making the next ones…