My list:
- The Plenitude - Rich Gold
Not a computing book with code but it taught me a lot about what can be done with computers, and that they are marvelous machines.
- Architecture of Symbolic Computers - Kogge
An ode to what could have been if RISC and x86 hadn't steamrolled the landscape.
- Thinking Forth - Leo Brodie
Forth is wild, this book is wild, it's really a different world. After multiple attempts over 25 years, I'm giving it another go this year and this time it is actually clicking.
- Malicious Cryptography: Exposing Cryptovirology - Adam Young, Moti Yung
This is way out of my league in terms of cryptography, but this fascinated me early in my career, and led me to implement one or the other algorithm. Very prescient in many ways.
- Patterns of Software - Richard Gabriel
Not directly about computing, but I got a lot of deep insights from this book. It also brought me to the next book:
- Notes on the synthesis of form - Christopher Alexander
This is not a computing book per se, but it goes to the core of system architecture. Even in its original field, this book is kind of wild.
- All Mathematica Guidebooks - Michael Trott
Mathematica is wild, these books are wild, they are old but still oh so inspiring.
- The Plenitude - Rich Gold
Not a computing book with code but it taught me a lot about what can be done with computers, and that they are marvelous machines.
- Architecture of Symbolic Computers - Kogge
An ode to what could have been if RISC and x86 hadn't steamrolled the landscape.
- Thinking Forth - Leo Brodie
Forth is wild, this book is wild, it's really a different world. After multiple attempts over 25 years, I'm giving it another go this year and this time it is actually clicking.
- Malicious Cryptography: Exposing Cryptovirology - Adam Young, Moti Yung
This is way out of my league in terms of cryptography, but this fascinated me early in my career, and led me to implement one or the other algorithm. Very prescient in many ways.
- Patterns of Software - Richard Gabriel
Not directly about computing, but I got a lot of deep insights from this book. It also brought me to the next book:
- Notes on the synthesis of form - Christopher Alexander
This is not a computing book per se, but it goes to the core of system architecture. Even in its original field, this book is kind of wild.
- All Mathematica Guidebooks - Michael Trott
Mathematica is wild, these books are wild, they are old but still oh so inspiring.