I love reading Paul Graham - his On Lisp book - available freely - is a collection of jewels (written in Lisp, of course...) but you'll have to learn from it in any case, whichever your language of choice might be. Still I don't get convinced to leave my Java for Lisp in real world system building. :-) A 500hp roadster might be fun for the experienced driver, but I'd rather drive a sensible sedan every day going to the mall....