Would be interested to know if these articles are worth reading to learn about the language; i.e. ~40 years later, has the language changed too much to make the content here useful for learning purposes?
Code in Lisp in 1979 should be compatible with the current Common Lisp implementations.
However, Common Lisp (1994 ANSI standard) has interesting features that were not easily available (or standarized) on the Lisp implementations of 1979, for example the CLOS object system.
And today, with tools like Quicklisp or Alexandria, Lisp programming is really friendly. There are also some interesting recent books available, like Practical Common Lisp, and Land of Lisp.
These are all Common Lisp resources. There is also the classic "The little schemer" to learn Scheme.
I am not a Lisp guy, but Lisp as I understand it hasn't really changed a whole lot over time. Awhile back someone posted a Byte issue about C and I was shocked at how relevant the articles were today. If anything, it will give you a deeper historical perspective on the language and the fundamentals certainly haven't changed.
