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Books that Changed Your Life?
Pubb asks: "I'm a Computer Science teacher at a school with an interesting tradition. Every year, the graduating student who has performed best in a particular subject area is given a book prize. Rather than give this particular student the usual book on Java or Linux, I would like to get something more impactful. I ask you, fellow Slashdot readers, to name the books that helped unleash your geek within. All I ask is that the book be reasonably available, even if it is no longer in print."
...Well, that would be the Anarchist's Cookbook. Sorry I couldn't be of any help.
an Eternal Golden Braid.
A must book for anyone serious about CS.
Make even shorter URLs - 8LN.org
Twenty years dated, but still the exquisite geek work and lifestyle story.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
would be "Linux Power Tools". that was what made me more productive in Linux. and only 49.95, thats not bad for as useful as this book is. least thats my opinion.
Seriously - Once we have orbital laser platforms, we'll be able to crush such insurrection once and for all.
You know, it might be english class Fodder, but Fahrenheit 451 is a book that every kid should seriously *read*, on their own, and not in a class.
Seriously, it's one of the best lessons you could give a kid in today's world. A nice hardcover would be the perfect addition to a book collection or a great novel to start a love of reading.
My one other recommendation, though esoteric and perhaps more suited to my interests, would be "Descartes Error", by Damasio. It's a book about the tie between logic and emotion in the human brain, and reads like a novel (a non-neurologist could easily read it). I highly recommend it.
What Should I Do with My Life?
Have a geek party. Anyone can buy a book. Not everyone can throw a good nerd party.
...that is all. :-)
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
The Unix Programming Environment. A true classic.
A good Computer Science program will cover everything in GEB with more depth and without all the stupid-writing-tricks and dumbing down that Hofstadter employs. As someone who forced myself through GEB (to see what all the fuss was about) after graduating from a good CS program, I would describe it as a must-read book only for highschool-educated Perl hackers without any exposure to theoretical computing.
A true icon of what our culture is, what we hope, and what we fear. Some parts read a little oddly with the way technology realy went, but all in all a great book.
That which is done from love exists beyond good and evil
It also gives Wilde's brilliant opinions on what the meaning of Art is. Basically, in a time when so many people are asking "Why are we here", Wilde gives an answer. Obviously you may not agree with him later, but damned if you don't believe while reading it.
It's hard to explain Wilde's writing in a short comment. His writing is full, beautiful, and has endless amounts of wit. It is the perfect "life changer" for a geek.
Just a couple of quotes from Dorian Gray(taken from Wikipedia):
This is a hard topic for me, as I'm an avid reader, I could come up with 20 books off the topic of my head to suggest.
Anyone remotely interested in science should check out A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. What a great book to learn about all aspects of science. Well-written, informative, and interesting all at once.
- Ben
"I either want less corruption, or more chance
to participate in it." -- Ashleigh Brilliant
By Douglas Hofstadter
If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, words fail me -- just go buy it.
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. BB
Well besides the scriptures which in a public school/college setting should not be given as a reward I would have to say.
Fahrenheit 451 (which was on the restricted reading list at my jr High and High School.)
Brave New World (also on the list)
1984 (Yep on the list)
and I Robot.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The Little Schemer, a very unusual book on LISP (well, OK, on Scheme, but close enough.) It is a fun read, written in a sort of oddball Socratic method style, and it also has a sequel, the Seasoned Schemer.
A really good introduction, I think, for someone who is interested in more "theoretical" aspects of computer science; what you learn from that book is directly applicable to CS, but also mathematics, analytic styles of philosophy, &c.. Another way to look at it is as a more advanced, and more technical, companion to Godel, Escher, Bach.
Protect your liberties. Donate to the ACLU
Wow, I was going to write in with almost the same question: I've actually won the computing book prize, which is a voucher... for 15. I'm wondering what I should spend it on, looking for an book in the general area of computer science that'll be interesting. Slashdot is pre-emptively satisfying my needs :-)
Right now, I'm reading Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. It's the history of the world as told by salt. Salt, it seems, was the petroleum of the ancient world. Venice, for example, was founded on considerable wealth generated mostly from salt. British salt was ballast in slave ships, making one third of the voyage to the New World and creating a entire economy in the Caribbean. The Romans were paid in salt, which they called 'sal'. It's from this that we get the modern word 'salary'. And a Roman salad was lettuce/veg with oil and salt.
In that same vein, you've got another hell of a book in Robert Wolke's What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained. It's basically excerpts from Wolke's "Food 101" column in the Washington Post, but they make for fascinating reading.
I've also got Alton's books. I'm Just Here for the Food is a great intro to the why's and how's of cooking.
If your student winners aren't into food, you might try the latest volume in Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, The Confusion. Although in case they haven't read Quicksilver, you might want to get that as well, and maybe give them both as a set. At a little over 1,700 pages, if they don't find a job right away, they'll have something to occupy their time this summer.
You could also give them a gift certficate from your local book seller. Maybe put it in a nice card that everyone can sign?
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
For a Programmer:
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Baghavad Gita
The C Programming Language
Thinking Forth
Henry David Thoreau.
A really potent one, that.
My priest gave me Siddhartha for my high school graduation and I'll never forget it. It's a great look at life, enough to change the way I looked at my future. It's not really CS specific, but definately worth looking at.
If you're feeling educational, Game Development and Production by Erik Bethke.
If, on the other hand, you're feeling like motivating people, how about Nickel and Dimed, on (not) Getting by in America. Excellent read, and likely to make them study twice as hard in college.
The ______ Agenda
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason changed my entire concept of money and how to use it. It contains all the stuff you wish someone would have taught you growing up. It is written in parable form and is short and easy to read and understand, yet contains some very inspired text. Amazon Link
on one end of the spectrom, i have HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy.
:)
on the other i have 1984.
take your pick
Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
Mod this troll if you want -- but it taught me there were more important things than life. Such as having an eager partner, giving, sharing, etc. etc.
canly yout reconfabulate your'e questionarium?
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
Depending on the personality of the student, they may get a kick out of the 11 books that inspired Robert Heinlein, Carl Sagan, and basically a whole generation of scientists and writers.
I'm talking about The Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs (starting with "A Princess of Mars"). While giving a set of 11 paperbacks is not special, if you found early printings, with the pulp style illustrated covers, it could be a gift with historical significance.
They're not, by any means, based on science, but the stories are fun and I know I got a thrill out of reading them and seeing what inspired those whom I consider to be masters of SF or Science itself.
But, as I said, some students might really appreciate this, while others would consider it a gag or an insult. It would depend on the personality of the student.
Ishmail
by Daniel Quinn.
Are you a hunter or a gatherer?
Not to mention the fact that everybody (for all values of $BODY in $PROGRAMMERS) online writes and talks like Hofstadter did in GEB so it seems less amazing now.
But trust me, if you went through GEB before 1995 like I did, you'd have had your life changed. It's just that the Internet changed everyone else without having to read it.
Udo Erasmus' monumental tome Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill is an extensive discussion about all aspects of a healthy diet and nutrition. This book cuts through all the double-speak and bullshit marketing about what is healthy and what is not. Although the emphasis is on fats, the book goes into a discussion about macronutrients (e.g., proteins, carbs), micronutrients (e.g., vitamins, minerals), and the other things you never hear about from reading the newspaper (e.g., prostaglandans). The level of detail is enough to satisfy the biochem geek in all of us. The book illustrates how our modern lifestyle and the quest for the almighty dollar has resulted in poorer food quality.
I'm not saying this book is perfect. In fact, the second half of the book starts to drift a little to the crazy side where Erasmus sees conspiracies everywhere and his claims that the human body can heal itself of any disease provided you give it the correct nutrients are a bit farfetched. But if you want a good book on all aspects of nutrition and can help you make sense of the often-confusing role of fats in a healthy diet, you owe it to yourself to read through this book.
GMD
watch this
Edsgar Dijkstra's A Discipline of Programming.
David Gries' Science of Programming.
Kernighan & Plauger's Software Tools.
Frank Harary's Graph Theory.
Haven't checked them, but Dijkstra and K&P are certainly still in print.
2) The Age of Spiritual Machines, or just about anything by Ray Kurzweil. Help them develop their geek blueprint for what they want to accomplish with their life.
3) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. This is a tough one for some people though. Some people that have grown up thinking that self interest automatically is bad, while altruism is automatically good, and a lot of these people will despise the message in this book. That's unfortunate, as this book is one title that people consistently mention when asked what their favorite book is.
\/\/oobie
Douglas Coupland - Microserfs was extremely important to me. It made me aware of the pitfalls awaiting the unwary software engineer, and so I left University determined to ensure I maintained a sensible balance between my working and social lives.
It's done wonders for my mental state and, not coincidentally, the quality of my work.
There's lots of other good books mentioned in this thread too, so good luck trying to choose just one! That said, make sure that whatever you get is a nice hardcover edition.
by Plato. A discussion of the nature of knowledge and the ways in which we know what we know. This book has proven to be absolutely indispensable for my work as a programmer. Rigorous mental discipline with an eye toward tearing down what we think we know to understand how to know is not only good practice for designing applications but also for life in general. I give it to all my student-aged friends.
Wow... I second the The Godel Escher Bach reference... but if you are looking for something more 'career' oriented:
1) The Pragmatic Programmer
2) After the Gold Rush (out of print, readily available, and about to come out in a second edition)
the age of spirtual machines by ray kurzweil...i havent read it in a few years but an amazing book. plus our lady peace had a album a few years with quotes from the book :)
By Morris Kline
4 86 248232/qid=1089163233/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-478919 4-2901520?v=glance&s=books
This 1960s text is one of the drue diamonds in the rough for me.
I had advanced math, and science all thruogh high school, like many fellow slashdotters, but this book REALLY put all the pieves together.
It is a fantastic read of the history of math, and HOW we got to where were are. It begins with the concept of zero, axioms of truth, and how these truths are built upon... all the way through calculus.
It is an absloutly fascinating text, that really awakened me to the world of abstract mathematics, their buildings from basic truths, the realization that we STILL have a long way to go, and there is still a bleeding edge of mathematics.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0
"Why I Am Not A Christian" by Bertrand Russell (ISBN: 0-671-20323-1); a rational work.
by L. Ron Hubbard. It's much easier to avoid the potholes of life if you know what a pothole looks like. Dianetics is truly what I'd recommend if you want to curl up on a winter evening by a nice warm fire. My copy burned for about 20 minutes!
No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men.-Ronald Reagan
by Sun Tzu.
If you can apply the techniques of war to business, you'll be off to a great start.
Some things are very obvious (divide and conquer), and others are not (however, they are just as intriquing).
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
we don't even RTFA and you expect us to give you BOOK SUGGESTIONS?
/jab
you must be new here, right?
Closing of the American Mind
Completely useless in the real world, but De Re Atari, published in 1982 is one of those rare examples of what a comptuer book should be like. In depth details on the atari computer, yet somehow still fun to read!
I'm sure you can find other classics.
I was just at the end of second grade, and *really* into submarines. My neighbor was two years older than me, and made fun of me for getting "little kids' two-page books" when we went to the bookmobile. So early that Summer, I got another age-appropriate book about submarines, but I also got 20,000 Leagues. It took me most of the Summer and several renewals, but I was determined to read that book. To be honest, quite a bit of it zoomed over my head, too. But I read the whole thing.
A good lesson in stick-to-it-ivness, and it helped launch my life-long interest in Science Fiction, which helped launch my interest and career in technology, as an engineer.
As a bad side-effect, I never looked at any of the many 20,000 Leagues movies quite the same, after that book, since none I've seen were truly faithful. (Most tried to hint at nuclear power, instead of really good batteries, etc.)
I really ought to reread the book, some time. For all the books I've read and re-read, I've never re-read that one.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
By John Gribbin got me started in science. It's a bit light on the math and is somewhat non technical but pretty much covers the entire history of astronomy, the problems faced at each stage of discovery and how they were overcome.
For me it was a kind of aventure story whose protagonists were the scientists struggling to understand the meaning behind their observations. And how the next generation always builds on the discoveries of the previous.
You learn how we began to measure distance in the universe, how you theorize that such a galaxary is so many million light years away, from sodium lines in a laboratory to the composition of the stars, how you deduce everything is moving away from everything else, how a few clever people began to theorectically wind the clock back and apply basic physics principles to deduce a model of the early universe. Fascinating stuff for a geek.
Again, so much a technical book, but inspiring non the less.
His Fantasy Fictions works, particularly, his "Elric" series, with their innovative "Multiverse" theme challenged me greatly in my formative years.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
I'm not joking, its still a favorite of mine for some reason.
Ok maybe it was a little bit of a joke, but something light, enjoyable and has absolutely nothing to do with anything at all is a better gift then something thats meant to teach. People need to relax more, when I've just finished a course, the last thing I want is more reading material on the exact same subject, and I always hate people that give gifts with the attitude, 'this helped me, learn from it.' Maybe I do need to learn more, but I do it on my own time. If you give someone more and more heavy material without a break, they're going to burn out or ignore it all, either way it means very little.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
All about being alienated and why you should love it. A must for anyone who didn't have the best years of their life in high school.
Blake
microserfs by doug coupland is by far one of my favorite books of all time. i read it my sophomore year of high school and even now it still resonates strongly with me. actually, i really like almost all his books (particularly all families are psychotic, hey nostradamus!, and generation x).
i have a hard time expressing just how profound an effect doug coupland's work has had on me microserfs was the book that cemented my decision to major in c.s. for the first time in my life there was a book with characters who i could actually relate to. looking back now, a lot of the technological details seem a bit quaint, but it is still a really excellent read.
A wonderful book!!
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
by Steven Levy
Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
A good geek should know about the ones that came before, and learn from their mistakes and triumphs. Some books on geek history:
In The Beginning Was The Command Line by Neal Stephenson is a good overview of the culture of Linux, Macintosh, Be, and Microsoft in essay form. I've given it to non-computer geeks to teach them about Linux, and why it's different from windows. He talks about how modern society tries to impose a false image over everything to make things easier to deal with(like Disney) and compares that to the GUI vs. CLI differences. I don't agree with everything he says, but Stephenson is definitely a great writer, and he has the book available free at the link I put in.
Hackers by Steven Levy covers important epochs of the hacker culture, from its beginning at MIT to game developers in the 80s. It even has a chapter on Stallman starting GNU! A must-read for any geek.
Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse. It's just one of those books everyone should read.
Philosphy: Meditations (Descarte)
Science: The Elegant Universe (Green)
Language: Orality & Literacy (Ong)
Descarte was one of the first philosphers to discuss the quandry about a "thinking machine", mentioning the problem in viewing a machine dressed up in a hat -- can we consider it human?
The Elegant Universe is a brilliant read on string theory, which is just an utterly amazing concept (down to the quantum theory level).
Orality & Literacy describes how a cultures that have a written language will evolve differently than those who only speak. It examines how an oral society will not consider an "oak" tree to be anything similiar to a "pine" tree, because the concept of a "tree" doesn't exist. Literacy brings about abstractions.
I also recommend that you look at an older slashdot article Books on Programming Theory for more books.
If you're asking which books have had the greatest impact on my thinking in general, I'd have to say
1. The Divine Comedy, Dante.
2. Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon.
3. Humboldt's Gift, Saul Bellow.
The Divine Comedy is a masterpiece for its psychological insight into the nature of our problems, and why psychological problems are problems. Gravity's Rainbow for its message of sheer absurdity--it seemed to me to be a book equivalent of Dr. Strangelove. Humboldt's Gift, because it carried a message of what it means to live an extrordinary life in modern times.
In terms of academic interests? That's an entirely different story. In that case, I'd have to concur with others about GEB.
There's another book I remember that had a larger impact on me, though, although it was similar in content. It was a red book, published by Scientific American, that was all about paradoxes and mathematical issues similar to those in GEB. I don't remember the title, but it made a much bigger impression on me at a earlier age.
Do magazines count? Scientific American probably did more to get me interested in science and math as a child than any other thing.
Social Psychology (5th Edition) Hardcover - Show all editions Elliot D. Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, 04 February, 2004 Prentice Hall List: $101.33 ISBN: 0131786865 Best book ever - and to all of you who named CS books: Get a life for pete's sake!
-- Contradictions only exist in thought - not in reality.
Hi, this is Stereo_Barryo, but I couldn't remember my password so I'm an AC. Godel, Escher, Bach and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance have already been mentioned ( but maybe not the latter's sequel: Lila ). Not counting Lila (?) a third recommendation is Spring In Washington, by Louis Halle, which explained environmentalism to me in a clear, literary and easy to read manner. Geeks need to appreciate ( and enjoy ) the world beyond the blinds. Also, many ecologists are geeks. Geekdom doesn't live only among the EEs!
If you at all interested in copyright, patents, open source, public domain, Internet, and the airwaves, this book is a well-written overview of these issues, along with suggested solutions to some of the problems involved. In paperback.
Definately not a computer or technology related book, but it is a book that has shaped me into the man I am today. Even if it has absolutely nothing to do with your background (I'm African-American so it does have a bit to do with mine) it may spark some interest in wanting to delve into your family tree, may open your eyes to some things you take for granted day to day, or may just be a good read. The only thing I have to say is, do NOT take this book and feel that you may have to apologize for everything your possible ancestors MAY have done. It isn't about that, it is about family history and what we used to pass down from generation to generation. I'm waiting for the day my son can actually digest what I have to tell him about both sides of my family and hopefully he'll pass it down to his children. I think more talking and less typing on these things (computers) can be an excellent thing at times.
sigs are like a box of chocolates, they all suck remove the underscores to email me
Better yet
Although a man page might suffice.
Dr Seuss books are soo targetted at geeks, the good doctor taught me about wordplay and rhyme without reason.
Changed my life, in that it encouraged me to get a university degree in the first place, and continues to encourage me to get my PhD.
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
I read this book by pop physicist and now pop New Age Guru (or something) while waiting to take the SAT, and I swear it boosted my score. At the time, the idea of quantum tunneling and Feyman-diagrams were pure magic to me (thanks to endless Star Trek series, at least the terms are familiar to the common man). It's still a mind bender and for amateurs, an interesting read.
The two most common things in the Universe are dark matter and stupidity.
Never read Atlas Shrugged, though I did read The Fountainhead. A guy down the hall Freshman year in college was a Rand fan, which got me to the point of reading one. Shortly later, I began reading Atlas Shrugged, and it seemed like same story, same characters, different setting.
Funny thing about Rand Fans, "Let's all be individualists, just like Ayn Rand." Perhaps that's unfair of me. Second thing about Ayn Rand, I once saw a picture of her, in a 'leisure setting.' Perhaps she had once suffered and worked hard, but this picture gave no hint of it. It gave me the feeling that her writings were an attempt to justify the silver spoon it appeared that she was born with, in her mouth.
As for Self Interest, I guess I subscribe to E.E. Doc Smith's version, enlightened self interest. Find your share of the pie, but recognize that you are sharing a pie, and be fair about it. Strive to make the pie larger, while you're at it, and everybody can get a larger share.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Hackers is a book about the original hackers of each of the computer periods. Woz, RMS, and many more have their stories told.
Full of the passion and power these people felt when first confronted with interactive technology
it struck a real chord with my own experiences, and may well do so for anyone else with a strong technical bent.
Hackers
I know on the surface it looks like a simple read, but the book nails every aspect of conflict so precisely, but still stated in simple enough terms that can be easily applied to nearly any situation. I don't mean to make it sound like a self help book or anything of the sort, but when are we ever not fighting for what we want?
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. A journey in coming to grips with the real world and finding your place in it.
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
and What Do You Care What Other People Think? both by Richard P. Feynman et al.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy
All three of these books I happened to have read between my sophomore and junior year of high school.
These books changed my life because they provided accounts of people (geeks) pursuing their love of science/technology in a fiercely dedicated and independent way, all at a young age (you get early accounts of folks like Stallman, Gates, Jobs, Woz, etc. as 20-somethings in "Hackers") , and ended up making huge contributions to research/industry. You also get to hear about the enormous sacrifices, regrets, and risks taken (some succeeding, some failing), and ultimately an important perspective on the lives of some very smart and important characters in a way that I think is still relevant to graduating high school kids today.
Best,
Andrew
In reading the preceding suggestions, I see that the "merely" inspirational and entirely clever synthesis Godel, Escher, Bach is derided as too simplistic, and that engaging and revealing look at how engineers work, The soul of the New Machine is dismissed as "too depressing" -- I suppose for managers it is; for those to whom the thrill is in the journey rather than the Wall street Journal it continues to be uplifting.
So I'll offer a suggestion that isn't blue-sky theorizing, but instead a hard-headed look at how to design a large system, with all the compromises and trade-offs that entails, a "purely" technical book that nevertheless (and least in the first half) reads like a thrilling novel, and a book that gives great insight into how a familiar and loved -- or foolishly reviled -- tool came to be: Bjarne Stroustrup's Design and Evolution of C++.
If you've ever wondered why the C++ language works the way it does -- or why some particular "mistake" that's so obvious to you made it past Stroustrup and later the Standard Committee --, or how to create a wholly new language that's backward compatible with a well- and widely-established one, without compromising the efficiencies that made the original so popular, or just how to design a large scale project that must be many things to many "constituents" -- procedural language, object oriented language, reasonably easy to write compilers for, D&E is a must read.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I guarantee that if you read each of these books, then let the ideas simmer around in your head, you will walk away with a completely changed viewpoint on not only computers and software, but society, government, biology, and the universe itself.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Best C reference: K&R (C Programming Language). The binding on mine wore
out so I had it spiral bound. Now it lays flat. Should have done it sooner.
Best reference for CS theory: The Art of Computer Programming. Only read this
if you're serious about not just coding well, but elegantly in any language. Bonus points if
you can keep from getting bogged down in volume 2.
Greatest insight into how large corporations work: The Prince. I read this
about once a year to maintain a healthy level of cynicism. Machiavelli's
insights are timeless.
There are other great books, but these books are timeless.
*sigh* back to work...
Seriously. This book opened my eyes to just what a stupid place I was working at and gave me the confidence to quit & go contracting. That was some seven years ago and I haven't looked back. I'm much wealthier and healthier (mentally and physically) than I would have been had I not read that book.
I was in the bookstore getting books for a class a couple (ahem) of years back, and I noticed an optional text for a compsci course:
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!".
Even though I wasn't taking that course, I was curious and bought the book. Once I opened it, I couldn't put it down.
It is a an excellent look at curiosity and discovery, and a very funny book besides. The subject of the book, Physicist Richard Feynman, became a Nobel Prize winner.
Just excellent.
The Soul Of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder.
It was assigned in my computer architecture class. One of my favorite books, computer-related or otherwise. It's a book about a group of engineers working together to put together a new computer. It's great as a story about accomplishment and business, plus it's got lots of geekiness thrown in.
And it won the Pulitzer.
Atyiah-MacDonald, Introduction to Commutative Algebra: Dym-McKean, Fourier Series and Integrals: Not exactly PC, but this is one's also a good read - it's the history of the world, as seen through the eyes of a tax collector:
Then, read some non-fiction - once you get through this list, you may become suicidal:
I guarantee you will go through all the emotions a human can conjure up once you finish with these two sets and think about it all for a while. Your social and political viewpoints may change. You may feel like running and hiding (or curling up into a ball on the floor).
Another option would be to couple this set with the set I mentioned regarding Network Theory and Emergence, and you might come up with a solution toward a way out of the nightmare advancing on the world. Add a detailed knowledge and practice of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) - heh, who knows? You could probably start a very successful cult...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
It changed my perspective in how I looked at the world. And eventually ended up buying a motorcycle of my own after reading it
I'll reiterate GEB, and here's a couple more:
A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking
The Principia, by Isaac Newton (find a good translation)
Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin
Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-so-Easy Pieces, by Richard Feynman (2 books) QED is also recommended. Also, an essay, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom."
The Art of Computer Programming, by Donald Knuth
Engines of Creation, by Eric Drexler
Design Patterns, by Gamma et al
I seem to recall that one of Noam Chomsky's books on language is considered a classic, but I don't remember the name. I can't think of any "classic" AI books off the top of my head, and I've never seen a robotics book I liked.
I also recommend some Hard Sci-Fi, but it's a short list:
Contact, by Carl Sagan
Fountains of Paradise, by Arthur C. Clarke
Stephen Covey's First Things First
Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.
Whaaaa?
Stephen Covey is the best selling author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In First Things First he teaches a character-based (personal values, not ASCII) method of time management. It basically asks you to identify what things are absolutely important to you and asks you to commit to priorities that will make those goals happen in a way you can support. It sounds like Pointy-Headed Boss babble-speak, and it is to a point, but if you can separate the "Businessman's Book" vibe it becomes a simple way to ensure you're living the life you want to live.
In Cold Blood is for a completely different reason. It's the first 'true crime novel', and quite possibly the best. It's part detective story, told from the point of view of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation police officers that tried to solve the brutal quadruple murder of the Clutter family in rural Kansas. It's also a psychological study of the two murderers: on the run, their capture, and execution.
Truman Capote spent several years researching the crime. His childhood friend Harper Lee (the author of To Kill A Mockingbird) helped him with his research. He wrote a compelling character study that captures the times and the events beautifully and horribly.
Both books are ones that aren't 'geek-lit 101', but they did change my life.
My father is a blogger.
This is probably more for the engineers out there, but To Engineer is Human by Henry Petroski definitely made me consider the engineer's role in society rather than just how to be an engineer.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
(Of course, it may lead to the other extreme...)
I'll second your recommendation of Nicked_and_Dimed. I hope that besides motivating, it helped you empathize with those working in those jobs. As for me, I'm a much better tipper now.
Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance
If you haven't read it and you do anything with that deals with how people interact or use technology you are flying blind.
It's one of those life changing books.
You can read a great passage on my website here.
-davidu
# Hack the planet, it's important.
Exactly. Education is great, but it comes in all sorts of flavors, and those who specialize in one particular variety (PhD) at the expense of others (hard knocks) accumulate blinders. It works in the other direction too.
It is silly to look down your nose at mere self taught Perl hackers. It is entertainment for others when snobs can't see the forest for the trees. Anyone who tinks GEB was teaching higher mathematical concepts is a naive fool.
Infuriate left and right
Geeks have a bad reputation for being too narrowly focused. In my experience it is a well deserved reputation. Give the students books that they would not normally read. Force them to think outside their world.
In particular I recommend the Dale Carnegie books: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living and How to Win Friends & Influence People. Both these books are easy to read and can help someone for a lifetime. Others have recommended Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence. It is a good book about life, and only tagentally related to motorcycles.
I also recommend that you choose books that don't seem like school books. If you are going to choose literature, choose P.G. Woodhouse, not Steinbeck.
Get them:
A Christian Bible
A Torah
A Q'oran
Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World
A book on Scientology
A book on the Vedas(probably some debate as to what includes them all, but it will be a start)
A book of Buddhist texts(once again, you kind of just have to choose one that looks good since there are disagreement of which texts are considered cannoical)
With the message, "You have now graduated college, the University has taught you everything it could about computer science, now you have to discover everything on your own. There are a lot of people out there who claim to have the one true way, you decide that way for yourself"
There are a lot of good books mentioned here, but I'll add one of my favorites to the pile: G. H. Hardy, "A Mathematician's Apology". It's a little difficult to describe, but Hardy justifies science in the face of war, shows the importance of humility when confronted with another's brilliance, and gives a tremendous inspiration to anywho who feels he has that rare spark needed to be really good at something. But I don't want to simpify this great book, so I'll copy a few of the book's quotes I found on the web:
"The number of men who can do two things well is negligible."
"There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable, than that of the men who make for the men who explain. Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds."
"I believe that mathematical reality lies outside us, that our function is to discover or observe it, and that the theorems which we prove, and which we describe grandiloquently as our "creations," are simply the notes of our observations."
The case for my life, then, or for that of any one else who has been a mathematician in the same sense in which I have been one, it this: that I have added something to knowledge, and helped others to add more; and that these somethings have a value which differs in degree only, and not in kind, from that of the creations of the great mathematicians, or of any of the other artists, great or small, who have left some kind of memorial behind them.
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -Voltaire
I wouldn't say they really changed my life, but nothing shaped my reading habits like three of the books I was assigned to read in the summer of 1987, just before I started high school (who'da thunk it?):
1) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I might never have discovered Adams on my own. After reading HHGG I devoured all the rest of Adams' books.
2) The Hunt for Red October - I immediately fell in love with this book, and the entire techno-thriller genre in general. Just about an entire shelf of my bookcase is taken up with the "Jack Ryan" Clancy books, and the rest of my library is peppered with the better efforts of some of his imitators.
3) In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash - You may not think you know this book, but if you've seen "A Christmas Story," you do-- this is the book it's based on (mostly chapter 2, but the movie incorporates stuff from other chapters). A wonderful trip back to a simpler time.
All three of these books still see action from time to time. I can recite passages from them from memory, and when I'm bored I'll pull one off the shelf, open to a random page, and know exactly where I am in the story.
To move this back on topic, how about giving the kid something not computer/geek related? Try to broaden his/her horizons a little bit.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Thinking Forth. I'm so glad somebody holds Leo Brodie's book in such high esteem. It's been many years since I programmed in Forth, and then never professionally, but learning Forth truly advanced my understanding of computers and computer science by leaps and bounds. Leo Brodie's book was a huge part of that.
the graduating student who has performed best in a particular subject area is given a book prize
You seem to imply that there are multiple subject areas, so I'll list multiple books, broken down by subject.
The assumption is that the student will actually want a copy of this book, which might not be the case with some other recommendations like The Art of War or Gödel, Escher, Bach.
Since the student is graduating, how about How Would You Move Mount Fuji?, by William Poundstone. It's subtitled "Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle - How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers" and describes the roots of logic questions in interviews (specifically Microsoft's notoriously difficult interviews).
Since you mentioned Java or Linux, we can probably assume that the student knows his Design Patterns and UNIX Power Tools. How about Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty, by Joe Grand, Ryan Russell, and Kevin Mitnick?
Of course, it the student is a hardcore coder, you probably can't go wrong with the Art of Computer Programming, Volume 3, Volume 2, or Volume 1, by Donald Knuth. Or if the student is an Open Source or Free Software zealot, then The Cathedral and the Bazaar may be an obvious choice.
Ah, that is so cool! It really makes me happy to hear that. Please submit to Slashdot when it is ready.
I'm not sure if someone else has already mentioned this (I admit, I skim), but the book that really thrilled my geeky heart was flatland. I read it when I was 15 and I think my head was swimming in the land of tesseracts for weeks afterwards. Other geeky books that I enjoyed were Godel Escher Bach, Brief History of Time, HHGTTG, and even the sequals/homages to flatland (spaceland had a fun climax what with the protagonist literally anchoring three-dimentional space together with his body).
I see a lot of people suggesting computer, math, philosophy, and other similarly esoteric texts. The other camp seems to be taking what are generally perceived to be great literary texts at least 40 years old.
This is kind of interesting to me since my favorite books have always been stories about actual fantastic adventures. As a kid I grew up on stuff like the Lion/Witch/Wardrobe, Watership Down, and a Wrinkle in Time. Later it was dragon lance books, Raymond Feist, and Tad Williams. My favorite book to this day is "To the Vanishing Point" by Alan Dean Foster. The common theme is that all of these books are more or less about mostly normalish people and creatures that become heros and go out an accomplish things.
Sure, the everyday hero theme is pretty common in print and movies, very cliche. But it's not very common in everyday people. Most of the folks I know plod through life, one day of work at a time. They hate their jobs but show up every day dutifully spinning around like a cog in a machine. Relatively few think, hey I can go do something great.
So don't get someone the Art of War or the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or some bookshelf filler on lisp. Instead get them a nice fun read that reminds them that they can in fact make a difference.
While some of the ideas were controversial at the time (using long parameter lists for function calls instead of passing a pointer to a struct -- gee, I wonder who developed that habit of passing a pointer to a struct containing a glob of function parameters and why did they think there was nothing wrong with that?), and the book predates OO, the book is eye opening with regards to there being more to developing a program than coding.
The real art of software development is not simply knowing sort algorithms or how to traverse a linked list. The most important issue in any body of code more than 1000 lines is "I have a data value over here, and I need to use it over there, and how do I safely get that information from here to there apart from making every data structure global and turning the program into a rat's nest of unconstrained interactions?"
Reliable Software through Composite Design presents a pre-OO procedural look at that problem and is definitely worth looking at today.
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder.
I'm eating pizza right now; otherwise I'd say more.
The lesson to learn, of course, is that there's more to life than your stupid job.
-paul
Pistol caliber is like religion: everyone has their favourite, and theirs is the only right choice.
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," and "Starship Troopers." Don't let the crappy movie fool you about ST - it's a very serious book. Both novels deal heavily with duty and personal responsibility, which every kid needs to know a lot about, and most adults, too, sad to say.
_Beneath_the_Wheel_ is important in a heavily corperate society because it talks about having gifts in areas (like technology) and that sometimes just because you can work until midnight every day on X project because your boss wants you to, doesn't mean you should and more importantly that it won't make you any happier in the long term.
While knowledge is power, power in itself is not an ends, something many forget. Hesse's novels are no less than a retelling of Socrate's "Know thyself" in parable form.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Sure...not as good as some of the other books already mentioned, but it was a fun influence on my yound mind.
has to be the One book that influenced me very deeply while i was in grad school.
highly recommended.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution was published by Steven Levy in 1984. It's a well-told history of personal computers, starting with the Tech Model Railroad and the early timeshare work at MIT, moving to the Stanford west-coast era and finally to the early personal computer era with Bill Gates and the two Steves. All the side-projects are included: Spacewar, blue boxing, pinball, etc. Levy went on to become Newsweek's technology columnist, and his prose is much less eloquent these days, but in the 80s, it was pure magic.
I read this book when I was twelve or thirteen, and the descriptions of the glories of solving technical challenges inspired me to study computer science.
I'm not sure where they land on the geek scale, but there are three books I would recommend for any young person starting out on a life in the sciences. The first is _Stranger in a Strange Land_ by Robert A. Heinlein. When I read it as a young teen, it was a life-altering event. I could never look at my society or my culture the same way again. The second is _A Canticle for Leibowitz_, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Science without perspective is sterile, and this novel really drove that home for me. The third, and a great complement to the other two, is Ray Bradbury's _Farenheit 451_, which needs to be read by every child and young adult on the planet.
Again, these books are non-technical, but they address science and culture in extremely thought-provoking ways.
well, it might be a little far afield, but guns, germs and steel is one of the few books i've read that dramatically changed my point-of-view about a lot of things all at once. it basically sets out to figure out why the disparities between different cultures and races exist.
along the way, he draws from several diverse disciplines (botany, genetics, anthropology, archeology, etc), which is probably the most relevant facet of the book to the question -- it does a great job of showing how to use different approaches to solve problems.
-esme
Scott Adams, of "Dilbert", has also written a serious "thought experiment" in which a UPS driver is introduced to the truth behind God and the Universe. The book is also available in Adobe and MS Reader formats. It will keep you thinking long after you finish it.
Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
- The Selfish Gene
- Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology
- Chimpanzee Politics
- Getting to Yes
- In a Different Voice
- The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
- Consilience: The Unity of Human Knowledge
- The World's Religions
- Life 102: What To Do When Your Guru Sues You
- Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
Plus a number of other books mentioned here.Note that I don't necessarily believe everything in these books, but all of them provided me with important insights. Also, props to my 6502 assembler manual, long since turned to dust.
A friend asked me which books I would recommend and I wrote a short article with links to several books: Read the Recent Great Books.
I made the point with him that the wisdom in the ancient great books had been largely absorbed into our culture. It's the recent great books that include ideas not everyone knows.
By far, by far, the biggest limitations in anyone's ability to program computers are due to inner conflict. Someone who can approach and deal with his or her inner conflict will be far more able to concentrate and will be far more creative. So the best book to become a good programmer may not always be a programming book.
Also, it is the solemn responsibility of everyone to help run his or her own country, especially at times of crisis like that in the United States. So, part of being a complete person is taking an interest in politics. If enough people don't, the U.S. may become effectively a dictatorship. Here are links to 3 movies and 35 books that say there are serious problems: Unprecedented Corruption: A guide to conflict of interest in the U.S. government.
The book "Gestalt Therapy" in the first article linked above discusses an interesting fact: If you stare at something long enough, it will disappear from your consciousness. Similarly, if you try to do nothing but programming, you will find that your brain slows to a crawl. Only people who have a complete range of activities and interests are fully successful programmers.
For ideas about how to be creative, read the books of the humorist, Dr. Richard Feynman, linked in the first article. Oh, and Dr. Feynman also won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries in Quantum Electrodynamics.
I've read the whole serie in French and then again in English several times. I cannot stress enough how profound the insight into humanity these books provide. The movie by David Lynch barely scratch the surface of the material buried within them.
Intelligence shared is intelligence squared.
You're old school? I beta tested the motherf***ing abacus!
You have to read Milgram's "Obedience to authority" more than any other book. You can read this online article too.
In Search of Schroedinger's Cat by John Gribbin and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking really did it for me. Also, the Douglas Adams books: the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (all of them) and the two Dirk Gently novels: Dirk Gently's Hollistic Detective Agency and the Long, Dark Tea-time of the Soul. The Dirk Gently books are quite different and very entertaining. To this day I still think of the Electric Monk who believes that everything is pink.
Stick Men
for me, more or less in chronological order :
"Tintin et Milou"
Casio PB-100 user manual (truly great, with nice example programs like Gauss'pivot !)
"101 computer games in BASIC"
6502 assembler manual
Asimov's science history
Jackson "Classical Electrodynamics"
"Numerical Recipes in Fortran"
Landau and Lifchitz "Classical Mechanics"
Atkins "Physical Chemistry" (all the basics of thermodynamics and statistical physics made simple !)
Gutzwiller "Chaos in classical and Quantum mechanics"
TeX and LaTeX books
Google passes Turing test : see my journal
If you want to help that computer science student to survive the real world, at least let him read about the things nobody accepts but all know in ther heart before being hit with it.
On the same vein: give him a coupon for 'The Dealine' by Tom deMarco, only to be cashed in after he has failed his first project through management interference. He won't believe the things PHBs do beforehand anyway.
I would assume that your school trains him in all the technical knowledge he can get. Give him something for all the other skills he's going to need.
I'll go off on a wild tangent and suggest The Cluetrain Manifesto. The student will probably be saying "but this is all obvious" at least once per page. Understanding how and why it's not obvious to 99% of organisations is a really important real world lesson that your course proabably didn't cover. ...and it's a free download, so throw in something fun like Endger's Game (already recommended elsewhere) that way you won't look like a cheapskate.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Your mileage may vary... A Practical Guide to Feature-Driven Development by Stephen Palmer and John Felsing Reading _and_ using this one right now - has changed my whole approach to software development and delivery Code Complete by Steve McConnell A common sense approach to software development - a bit dated nowadays and too rigid for real use, but excellent tips and tricks throughout - not language specific Designing With Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman An excellent introduction into modern web markup, how to write markup once that will work everywhere - has literally changed my daily toil.
Take a look at this eigenpoll on agile software development books.
Why don't you make a good list of choices available and tell them to choose from that list sufficiently before the actual event so that you have the book ready with the prize certificate already in the book for the presentation. That's what happened with all book prizes I've received. I was offered the choice from shortlists of some ten to thirty books. Including such gems as "How to make friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie. A real life changing classic that one is.
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois is an incredible book. I'm currently an entering freshman in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley, and sadly enough, this book may be the reason! I've always had a passion for invention, for creation...and I do believe that this book helped to formulate that passion. It features numerous practical inventions, such as tables that come out of the floor, beds that make themselves...it just goes on and on. It's a brilliant and imaginative book, and because CS is all about creation, I'd definitely recommend it. ...and I'm not the only person who thinks that this dinky little children's book is incredible. It was the winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal.
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." -Archimedes
here is a start. there is no particular order to what I have listed. any book here is a great one and a classic. keep in mind that I read (most of) these books 25 years ago and what was good and influential then may not be now.
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the autobiogrophy of malcom x
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0
animal farm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451
brave new world
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006
fountinhead
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/
anything by David Halberstam
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/sea
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail
the godfather
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN
The Rest of Us: The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail
Fire in the Streets: America in the 1960's
by Milton Viorst
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/deta
How We Got Here : The 70's--The Decade that Brought You Modern Life--For Better or Worse
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai
black like me
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
the great shark hunt
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail
Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind. -- Mark Harrold
Hackers, by Stephen Levy
Applied Cryptography, Bruce Schneier
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter
Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey
Philosophy:
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
then I claim rights to: The Bible. It's a bit dry without the "relationship with God" bit though, so if you're not going to bother with the latter I'd go for Hofstadter's Godel Escher Bach instead, which is still an interesting read if you haven't got a clue what half of it means.
Especially the beyond good part.
Turdmuncher
by Michael Talbot
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or Lila 'changed my life'. With quotes like "The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or in the gears of a motorcycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower" How could it not help bring out the inner geek within anyone?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or Lila 'changed my life'. With quotes like... "The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or in the gears of a motorcycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower" How could it not help bring out the inner geek within anyone?
that they would already have a book. (What?)
"Mastering Pr0n in 21 Hours" or "Pussy pus pus" are good starter readings, "Pr0n for Geeks" also a good piece but a little too superficial for my tase. For those students whom are thinking about a PhD there is nothing like "Essential Pr0n". A true masterpiece, butt requires a certain level of experience. It's a hard reading, covering the subject in depths never before explored.
read Neuromancer by William Gibson.
I've had the same thing in every school that I've ever attended. Do you really want to know the point of the it? It's so that the teachers can get of all those older but still valid text books. Were this is really good is at your local college. At the college that I attended, whenever a professor decided to clean out his office, he'd stack about 20-30 books outside his door with a sign that said free books.
Although a think it would be really nice to have gotten a "new" book, most of these second had books were enough to interest me in those subjects. Textbooks are expensive gifts to students.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman because it changed my attitude about accepting things as they are. I'm not cynical but I'm now more likely to question what is presented to me as fact. I really think this book increased my curiosity about many things.
My suggestion is Disturbing the Universe by Freeman Dyson. He has a flair for storytelling, and the book makes some good points about the scope of the consequences of our actions.
A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander. This book is about architecture, and is widely cited as being a primary inspiration for the GoF Design Patterns book. However, this book really demonstrates abstraction: seeing a problem from a very high level (how to distribute cities) to a very low level (room furniture).
Pretty much any book from Andrew Tanenbaum, his sparring with Linus notwithstanding. He writes very clearly on his topics, and doesn't bog down into the details of coding. In particular, his operating systems and network books are very good.
Wolfram's A new kind of science changed my life. It made me realize I want to stay away from ego-centric technophiles and hang around people with a little common sense and courtesy.
On a serious note, Men of Mathematics, by E.T. Bell is quite inspiring. That, and The Phantom Tollbooth.
There's no time to stop for gas, we're already late.
I would recommend "The Timeless Way of Building" or "A Pattern Language". Both are very good books.
-
This Perfect Day by Ira Levin is a science fiction account of what the world could be like if machines ruled humans rather than visa versa. It chronicles the actions of a hero and heroine as they try to slip from the bonds of the machine and then ultimately defeat it; leaving the world 'naked' to it's own ignorance of life lived as a people unfettered by the computer and required to live and act on their own.
... these are my standard recommendations, and the books that have survived up to 25 years of periodic home- and office-library purges. They all have the benefit of not being the "soup du jour", and are still relevant many years after I first read them.
"The Soul of a New Machine", Tracy Kidder. A must-have for anyone interested in managing or leading geeks, and a good read to boot.
"The Art of Computer Programming", Donald Knuth. Especially volume 1, "Fundamental Algoritms".
"Principles of Compiler Design", Alfred Aho & Jeffrey Ullman (aka "the dragon book"). Kind of specialized, but appropriate for Comp Sci students.
"Computer Networks", Andrew Tanenbaum. Dated but still accurate and useful in understanding modern networks, especially radio-LANs (WiFi et al.).
"Operating Systems Design and Implementation", Andrew Tannenbaum. The book that got Linus Torvalds started on writing the Linux kernel. I disagree with Prof. Tannenbaum on the supremacy of microkernels, but it's still important.
"Software Reliability", Glenford Myers. We should all care about this stuff, and Myers attacks the topic in a reachable fashion.
"Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern", and "Godel, Escher Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid" (aka "GEB"), both by Douglas Hofstadter. They're both tough to read but useful, although I only recommend them to people I know very well, and even then with a caveat. But if you like to *think about* computing, they're inspirational.
"The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", Edward Tutfe. Forget GUIs and other cutesy-pie "graphical" eye candy - Tufte teaches the real deal.
Give 'em George Orwell's 1984.
Other than that, how about Code Complete, by Steve McConnell, or The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management, by Tom DeMarco?
Some other possibilities:
TCP/IP Illustrated by Stevens
UNIX Network Programming (esp. vol II ), also by Stevens
Object Oriented Software Construction, by Bertran Myer
// TODO: Insert Cool Sig
The Efficient Society is a book I wish were available when I was in high school/college. It is an easy read, full of entertaining examples taken from economics, sociology, politics, psychology that help explain the workings of the human society and how & why we have the laws we do.
Truly excellent for a person about to start an independent life.
Warning: the perspective is Canadian and it might offend some Americans.
One of my most favorite books. Perfect for an intro class and useful enough to keep on the shelf forever, or until a newer edition comes out. :)
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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0
excellent intros into every topic in CS. also the quizzes at the end of each section are immensely useful testing/reinforcing the critical concepts you have read. The reading can be dense at times, but makes for a wonder primer/appetizer for the more serious books out there.
Most of the stuff at www.fourmilab.ch is interesting, but it was only after reading The Hacker's Diet that I had the understanding and motivation to lose weight. After eight years of being overweight, I'm losing one pound a week the right way, through gradual changes to my diet and lifestyle.
:-)
Many books recommended here will enrich your mind, but how many will help you live longer?
One of my professors loaned me his copy of The Shockwave Rider in 1982. I don't know if this book changed my life, but it certainly made me think about how computers could (and should) be used. Written in 1975, John Brunner guessed wrong about the details of the technology, but scored a direct hit on the results of technology on society, and what it will mean for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the 21st century. This book was out of print for years, and it took me more than a decade of scowering used book stores to find a copy for myself -- I now have several copies so that I can lend them to others.
Buy it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
We call it art because we have names for the things we understand.
But I think there are much better books critical of theism and christianity then this one. Anything by Anthony Flew and JL Mackie is a good start.
... "Diesel Traction - A Manual for Enginemen", published in 1962 by the British Transport Commission.
I, apparently, have a much different reading list than most of slashdot, since I have not ready many of the books listed, nor have some of my most influential books been listed, so here are some books wich I found either influential, or just really good.
Flatland - A Romance of Many Dimentions. - this book was given to all the Calc II students my senior year of highschool (all 5 of us). It's a very interesting book on many levels. The way it introduces the reader to thinking outside the bounderies of what is possible, and the commentary on victorian society make this ~100 page, $4 book a must read for anyone with a few free hours.
Brave New World - This book has been mentioned before, but it's a great warning about what happens if we allow ourselves to be too distracted by the shiney pretty things (tv for example). If you get this, you may consider also getting Brave New World Revisited as a companion, it's a series of essays written by Huxley on many of the topics covered in Brave New World.
The Cathedral and the Bizzare - this is a great book for any CS student. It discusses the development philosophy of open vs closed source software.
Infinity and the Mind - this is a great book about the concept of infinity in all it's forms, mathematically, philosophically, socially, and includes a great discussion of paradoxes, logic, and the incompleteness theorum. I read this book in 3rd grade (though it's aimed more at the highschool level), and I think it's what first started to unleash the geek inside me.
Frankenstien - this book is about a monster, not a monster created by a mad doctor, but a monster tha lives inside the heart of man. A great book to champion diversity.
A Brief History of Time - this book is a great non-mathematical introduction of quantom physics, and some ideas behind quantom gravity. Reading this book made my physics classes a thousand fold easier by being able to understand the concepts before hand and learning the math behind it later.
Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
Well it was banned for awhile. :)
Read it. It's a classic. If you're a Micheal Moore fan you'd like it even more.
From what I have on my bookshelf, books I have kept through many, many moves.
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a curious character compiled by Ralph Leighton. I was handed this book the night before Feynman was scheduled to give a talk, and I consumed it all at one reading. I sat in awe during his speech, amazed at his wit and quick mind. Then a group of us went out to dinner with him, and sealed forever his place as one of the people I worship.
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. Both versions, the 1939 short story first published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, and the 1956 novel. One of the first books I read which explored profound societal changes caused by a discovery. He truly thought out the consequences of being able to jaunte, and the obsolescence of things like prisons, borders, and women's rights.
The Lord of the Rings By some british guy. I heard they made it into a movie recently. The book which kicked off my interest in mythos, languages, and adventuring.
1984 by Eric Blair, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Books I read when I was capable of understanding the perverse and twisted self-supporting arguments used by those in power to maintain their hold on tenuous authority.
Starship Troopers by RAH. Again, a book about fascism, ultra-nationalism, and blind obedience to authority. Plus some cool weapons and tactics. This book opened my eyes how cool toys could be used to seduce young men to perform extreme acts without thinking about their actions or consequences.
Harry Potter by JK Rowling. After reading the first two books, I realised how difficult it is to write easy reading prose, and I've never tried to write fiction since. I also like the carefully camouflaged deeper meanings, such as Aquinas' 7 virtues and vices, good/evil/lawful/chaotic house themes, use of latin and greek root words to betray the truth behind people, spells, and creatures.
The Lensman Series by E. E. Doc Smith. First sci-fi books I picked up as a child, and forever fueled my imagination for space flight.
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene and The Kama Sutra, both are completely unconnected to the modern western world, but contain nuggets of knowledge hidden within. Both need to be read with an eye on how each situation can be translated into dealing with modern women. ESR's sex tips is a good, albeit stilted, distillation of these books translated into geek, for geeks.
There are others, fun books like HHGTTG, and the Disc World series. But those haven't really changed my life other than as mild sources of humourous quotes.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
I read this, and glad I was that I checked it out of the library instead of buying it. The book, while mildly interesting in its entirity, is encapsulated by its dust-jacket and review. Between a third and half of the pages are simply solutions to the puzzle, many of which simply give reasoned answers to questions that are impossible to answer.
I think the original questioner asked for books that will speak to graduates forever, and How Would You Move Mount Fuji doesn't apply.
As for the rest of your choices, I have one word: bravo!
I know what some might say: the book was really a serious examination of the IBP. To that I say (and in fact it is a mirror argument made by Schlosser), MacDonald's has the power to make the IBP change their ways. They won't.
As a result, I am a skinny geek with a social life and a babe for a girlfriend who shares my view. :-)
If you can't read the book (which is damn interesting -- read it) then watch "Super Size Me" by Morgan Spurlock. Pretty much a movie version of the book but focused entirely on MacDonald's instead of the fast food economics in general that is plaguing the 1st world nations and preying off of the 3rd world.
A few non-geek titles I can recommend:
All of these have in some way forced me to look not only at myself, but also at what I believe and feel. Because of them, I can honestly say I've grown as a human being.
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
Jon Bentley's masterpiece.
I haven't read this version, but the original was spectacular.
:wq
Just read it.
For Us: Soul of the New Machine
Everyone who thinks that a career in tech is going to be fun, good and right for them needs to read this. It won't stop you from doing it, any more than any of the other books can get you doing it, since tech comes from inside and must come out, period. But you'll understand why your life will be a tragedy from day one in the workforce, instead doing it for years while thinking it's just you.
Many books changed my life, this is the last one to do so, you can read it online here:
6 -rev/
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/193
You can't really understand last century without Trotsky analysis.
Tech books are a great gift, SciFi are also enlightening, v.g. Solaris by Stanislav Lemm; but what about some books that could help them to be better *human* beings, and better understand the human mind and feelings? While I was studing chemistry at the Universitaet Friedericiana zu Karlsruhe, in Germany, I found Freud's "Das Unbehagen in der Kultur" and I can say it really made an impact on me that I even went through psychoanalysis and that process made also a big impact in my life(Note: I'm not a follower of psychoanalysis anymore :) ...). In the same vein I would also recommend Herman Hesse's "Kindersele".
Perhaps your students are not yet ready for that kind of literature but maybe when they grow up they could find in them many answers to the questions life is going to make at them.
The best book ever written, why to pussy foot with other stuff if you can give the best?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
...oh wait, my bad, I thought you said "unleash your beast within."
Linux at home
ender's game was the greatest daoist reading i have ever experienced, purely for the concept of moving down.
Hah, literature is bunk. I just finished taking an AP Literature class, and while I love the stuff, there are definitely some works that critics were too eager to classify as literature.
;).
:P).
Those works? Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, and Pride and Prejudice. I'm also not too fond of Shakespeare outside of Macbeth and Hamlet. King Lear struck me as trite and wordy. Julius Caesar was hilarious, oh that wacky Second Commoner - such a sarcastic guy. Shakespeare's plentiful comedies are basically the equivalent of today's crap - reality TV. Which isn't to say Shakespeare wasn't capable of more - look at Hamlet and Macbeth - just means he wasn't the sort of pure, altruistic person that he is often made to me. He wanted to make cash like anyone else so he pandered to the people and wrote shit to keep them entertained.
I'm also wondering why Kubla Khan is considered literature. Coleridge wrote it while on acid or some similar drug (it's 8am and I cant remember). I mean its a cool poem and I was still able to draw all sorts of parallels and ideas and imagery, but it just seems to mock the very point of literature. Maybe that is the point
So yeah... Coleridge, Pope, Atwood, Eliot, Yeats. Those are good poets. Same with Bertrand Russell and his essays, specifically his Essay on Criticism. Lots of good stuff by Umberto Eco, in the Name of the Rose comes to mind... Uhm. Oh, Dante Alighieri put out this tiny thing called the Divine Comedy, might want to try that out for size. Inferno is captiving, but as you steadily ascend to Paradise things get duller (no suffering? booooring
Right now I'm reading the Iliad, but getting a proper translation is key. I bought a cheap, 4 dollar edition with a translation from the 1600s, and got nothing out of it. I then bought a nice hardcover edition with a translation by Robert Fitzgerald and it made all the difference in the world in making the story accessible and entertaining.
Thus Spoke Zarathusra... Descartes... Beowulf...
Yeats is great, really great. Anyways, just a few ideas.
Teach me to use Google as a spell check! (3 million hits seemed good enough for /. checking. :)
Escher and Bach are only given lip-service in order to make the book seem more balanced. You cannot learn about music or visual art by just reading text! Sure Hoftstader seems to know some stuff about Bach, but unless you augment the book with some serious listening and/or music reading he might as well just be making it all up. And Escher's art, as you can conclude from how well it sells, is more pop than profound: sure he had an amazing intuition for the Golden Ratio and similar mathematical series, but the recursion is all pretty basic. (If you want to learn about advanced tesselation, you're better off reading The Emperor's New Mind.)
Believe it or not, I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while. Right now I'm painfully crawling through my Master's thesis, but when (or if?) I finish, I'll definitely give a project like this some serious consideration. Of course, even a mediocre book like GEB takes more effort than I may be able to muster, so don't get your hopes up too high. :)
If anybody is interested in discussing this a few months from now, please post a comment in my journal.
Kaufman, Roger E., A FORTRAN COLORING BOOK, MIT Press, 1978
QA 76.73.F25K30
ISBN 0-262-61026-4
It's a very charming book, with every word including those on the copyright page literally hand-written. Not much call for Fortran these days, but the charming style is what makes this special. I think it should be required reading for every Freshman.
barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com both have them for under $15 through their used-book-dealer affiliates.
From the "about the author" part on the back, also hand-written in Dr. Kaufman's own handwriting:
-----------------
About the Author
A former obituary writer and homeroom mother, Erma Bombeck is the authro of three bestselling books, a syndicated newspaper column, and a T.V. regular on "Good Morning, America." On the other hand, Dr. Roger Kaufman, author of the present book, is litle know to millions of Americans, from his failure to appear on the Johnny Carson Show.
Dr. K. is, however, a professor at The Geeorge Washington Univerisyt and a lecturer at M.I.T., a small school in Massachutsettes. This book was classroom tested on hundreds of M.I.T. students whose enthusiastic comments sent Dr. Kaufman to Washington, D.C..
-----------------
The rest of the book is in a similar style.
Oh, it actually IS a decent beginner-programming book, provided you want to learn late-70's-era Fortran as your first language.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The Road Ahead, by Bill Gates?
*ducks*
Pretty widgets? What pretty widgets?
No disrespect intended, but why are you suggesting books for me to read?
Here is a list of books that I always tell my friends to read. Most of my friends tend to be somewhat introverted:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The Psychology of Persuasion: How to Pursuade Others to Your Way of Thinking
Influence
An interesting and somewhat controversial bit about "The Catcher in the Rye" is that John Lennon's assassin and Ronald Reagan's would-be assassin have both openly declared themselves as fans of this particular book.
That should make it an interesting read.
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
these are books that I strongly recommend:
- A Brief History of Time (Stephen Hawking)
- Six Thinking Hats (Edward Debono)
- Rebel Code: Linux and the open source revolution (Glyn Moody)
- The Dream Machine (Mitchell Waldrop)
- Applied Cryptography (Bruce Scheiner)
I found several books on Amazon about Baghavad Gita. Any particular one?
"A Walkthrough for Westerners"?
"The Song of God"?
"A New Translation"?
Thanks!!
Steve
$7.95/mo, 200 GB disk, 2TBxfer, MySQL, PHP, RoR.
There's nothing like an Herbert Schildt book to give a young CS student. It teaches them how to not make mistakes and how programming can go wrong. If I were a professor, I would require all the students to find errors in these error-prone books. The more errors you find, the better grade you get.
Free As Freedom, the biography of Richard Stallman
I remember it most for the protagonist's struggle with the concept of Quality, which piqued my interest in philosophy, which was an invaluable aid to me in college and since. I read the book first as a teen; maybe now that I have "the perspective that comes with middle-age" another reading would be in order.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Animal Farm by George Orwell. My brother lent it to me when I was 13. It sure taught me how a population enslaves itself to its politicians...
Dune by Frank Herbert, which rekindled my love of science fiction...
and The Irony Of Democracy by Thomas Dye and Harmon Zeigler, which put me firmly on the path that led to my finally breaking free of the Republican-Democrat duopoly.
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. It's not directly related to computer science (which is why I didn't post this sooner), but it has changed my life. On the surface, it's a simple story about a boy who has a dream and sets off on a journey, but I've read it close to 10 times now and each time I see the story differently and take different things away from it. The subtitle probably says it best: It's "A fable about following your dreams" -- and without all the sappy-sweet crap that usually comes with books about following your dreams.
"The Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. I read it when I was younger, probably 13 years ago or so, and it was the first introduction to issues w/ computer use and abuse and administration. I recently bought it and it brought me back to when I first read it. It's not relevant (telnetting to a unix server from a public IP? arguing the merits of Berkley Unix (BSD) versus SysV?) but it's probably still a good read for someone who's starting out.
FreeBSD for the impatient.
These books, (especially ABNW) helped me put a lot in perspective, and though not conventionally geeky, they are really good. Also, you may want to consider "UNIX in a nutshell" (O'Reilly) because i would say i spend more time flipping through remembering (well having forgotten, that is) how to do things than i do with any other book. =) cheers
sigSEGV - doy!
The parent post explains the logical conclusion of defining free will. The gist is that the definition of free will is a description of natural law. You don't follow natural law, you define it with your choices because you can't escape being part of nature. Whatever you conceive of is natural. Free-will | Natural-law are two-sides of the same coin.
= 9J =
The question was what to give to a student already in CS. If we were being asked about highschool students I probably would have encouraged GEB.
Life changing, as distinct form merely books I like, would include:
The Soul of a New Machine ~Tracy Kidder: The book which, aged 12, got me interested in the computer business in the first place. I re-read it recently and it is still great.
Dawkings, Richard The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene: These 2 radically changed the way I thought about the world.
Last Chance to See.... , Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine: Sparked a life-long interest in travelling and conservation in me which, in turn, probably led me to marry my wife and soul-mate.
Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Her philosophy is not perfect but its worth listening to anyway.