50 Books Every Geek Should Read, Part I By an Amazon.com customer | |
 | Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Neal Stephenson Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $4.02 A little bit difficult for a non native English speaker like me, because of all the word-play. A wonderful universe, fast paced action, reads like a great movie. And many of the fiction of this novel has become science in the few years that have passed since this was written. |
 | Neuromancer by William Gibson Buy new: $16.50 / Used from: $13.39 A classic for its vision of our present. |
 | I, Robot by Isaac Asimov Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $4.00 The trully classic robot book. Really a collection of short stories, where the basics (including the famous 3 laws) are masterfully presented and challenged story after story. |
 | Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (5 Books Set) by Douglas Adams Buy used from: $15.97 The funniest series I have ever read. |
 | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $4.43 Accesible and thought provoking. The inspiration behind Blade Runner, but as usual, the book is much better than the movie. |
 | Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $1.23 A sci-fi classic. To me it was a little predictable, but a very good read nevertheless. |
 | The Time Machine by H. G. Wells Buy new: $7.95 / Used from: $3.78 Do yourself a favor. Skip the movie(s) and go straight for this easy reading and fascinating book. |
 | Microserfs: A Novel (P.S.) by Douglas Coupland Buy new: $14.42 / Used from: $4.50 An interesting, funny and intimate look in the lives of a group of geeks from the multimedia revolution in the 90's |
 | Flatland (Illustrated Edition) by Edwin A. Abbot Buy new: $8.95 / Used from: $0.77 Ingenious tale in two dimensions. |
 | Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Buy new: $11.56 / Used from: $6.25 Exasperating and at parts difficult to believe, but a must-read for it social a cultural implications. |
 | Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Buy new: $9.71 / Used from: $4.29 A scary future that every day seems nearer. |
 | iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey S. Young Buy new: $12.45 / Used from: $0.99 Not very well written/edited, but a very interesting version of the story of a fascinating personality. |
 | iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It by Steve Wozniak Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $2.47 |
 | Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire by James Wallace Buy used from: $2.19 |
 | The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte Buy new: $26.24 / Used from: $15.44 It's true: you'll never see a power point presentation with the same eyes. Very concise and practical analysis of the graphical representation of data. |
 | Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug Buy new: $22.21 / Used from: $15.60 Examples are getting old, but the advice won't get old in a long time. A must-read for developers or anyone that works in the Web industry. |
 | Non-Designer's Design Book, The (3rd Edition) by Robin Williams Buy new: $19.52 / Used from: $10.96 |
 | Tog on Interface by Bruce Tognazzini Buy new: $22.20 / Used from: $0.01 |
 | User Interface Design for Programmers by Joel Spolsky Buy new: $29.95 / Used from: $10.85 |
 | Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made by Andy Hertzfeld Buy used from: $16.88 |
 | The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder Buy new: $10.87 / Used from: $2.99 |
 | Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet by Katie Hafner Buy new: $9.81 / Used from: $0.02 |
 | Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age by Michael A. Hiltzik Buy new: $12.23 / Used from: $4.17 |
 | The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage by Cliff Stoll Buy new: $10.42 / Used from: $5.38 |
 | The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness by Steven Levy Buy new: $5.47 / Used from: $2.01 |
 | Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel Buy new: $10.58 / Used from: $0.01 |
 | The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh Buy new: $11.53 / Used from: $3.38 Fascinating history of cryptography and cryptanalysis. It tells concrete examples of how cryptology turned wars and narrates related historical events on a very scientific and engaging way. |
 | Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $0.08 |
 | Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government Saving Privacy in the Digital Age by Steven Levy Buy new: $23.00 / Used from: $0.46 |
 | The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt Buy new: $35.25 / Used from: $28.00 Changes your philosophy about programming. |
 | Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve McConnell Buy new: $29.54 / Used from: $20.07 Everything you need to know about your craft, with studies and examples to validate the good and the bad. |
 | Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma Buy new: $39.08 / Used from: $14.03 A classic that should be on every software architect's shelf and mind. |
 | Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg Buy new: $8.41 / Used from: $2.52 |
 | The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) by Frederick P. Brooks Buy new: $25.52 / Used from: $7.94 |
 | Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly)) Buy new: $36.49 / Used from: $3.95 |
Listmania!
