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How good is "Lisp in Small Pieces"?

It is very good in that it contains a wealth of information on all aspects of implementing a lisp interpreter/compiler. It is just a little bit baroque in style, but I suspect this is because it has been translated from French to English. Overall, great book.

( My copy is falling apart. I heard some rumours there was going to be a new edition but I can't find any supporting evidence online.)

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That's good to hear. On the author's website, he says the new edition bears the new name "Principes d'implantation de Scheme et Lisp". Looks like it hasn't been translated to English yet, unfortunately. Either way, the older edition looks like it's worth it. Thanks!

(Yes, it really is "implantation", not "implementation"; the word apparently means both "setting up" (think "planting") and "implanting". Looking through the sample first chapter, I think "implantation" is probably the standard French equivalent of "implementation"; can someone who knows French better than I do confirm or correct this?)

Implementation in french is usually "Mise en Oeuvre", "Mise en place", "Application" or "Exécution" depending on the context.

In this example, implantation is probably more directly translated to "layout".

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