
My Favorite Programming, Computer and Science Books: Part Five - sfcscoffee
http://www.catonmat.net/blog/top-100-books-part-5
======
harperlee
Previous threads:

Part 1
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9443028](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9443028)

Part 2
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9483997](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9483997)

Part 3
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9645499](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9645499)

Part 4
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9835285](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9835285)

~~~
pkrumins
Also previous threads on Reddit:

Part 1
[https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/340au2/my_top_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/340au2/my_top_100_programming_computer_and_science_books/)

Part 2
[https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/34veel/my_top_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/34veel/my_top_100_programming_computer_and_science_books/)

Part 3
[https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/387trn/my_top_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/387trn/my_top_100_programming_computer_and_science_books/)

Part 4
[https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3c8nbx/my_top_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3c8nbx/my_top_100_programming_computer_and_science_books/)

Part 5
[https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4go82h/my_top_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4go82h/my_top_100_programming_computer_and_science_books/)

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greenspot
Books are tempting, they have glossy covers, they are about mastering a
subject. All things which lure us into buying them with 1 click on Amazon.

But I learn way more if I find a problem I want to solve. Then, I find my way
through countless online resources and it's so much more effective than
reading a book from beginning to end (which I can't do anyway).

Just an example: when I got into JS Promises/Generators/Iterators/Async/Await
I read more than 100 online sources. I read multiple articles about the same
topic again and again just because I didn't like the example of one author or
there was an interesting detail in the other version. Getting just one book,
means just one author and yes I love it to dive into one book on the plane.
But nowadays with the Internet books are overrated. I remember going through
the book store when I was a kid and buying an Assembler book for my Commodore
Amiga for incredible 60 bucks—this was my only resource to knowledge next to
print publications, they were expensive and maybe these memories make books
still valuable to us.

Another thing I recently realized: reading source codes of popular libs (my
last one was Koa). Once you get used to it it's not just very helpful but it
teaches you so much and often there is an underlying goal (you want to use a
lib you want to fully understand).

Books are not bad and for getting into something entirely new there are maybe
the best start because in the moment you buy them you commit yourself to learn
something from beginning to end. That's good and sometimes really necessary to
fully comprehend new languages for example.

~~~
criddell
> Books are tempting, they have glossy covers, they are about mastering a
> subject.

A lot of the books recommended on that site are about expanding horizons
rather than mastering a subject. You google for an answer when you know what
you don't know. Books can be great for those times when you don't know what
you don't know. :)

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arstin
Thanks for this series! I already got one based on an earlier list (a
collection of Knuth's papers).

I love reading recommended books lists from interesting, informed people.
Especially when, like this one, they include a number of eccentric or offbeat
selections which reflect the personality of the author. There's so much junk
out there that's meh or even hazardous to consume. A good list---the more
idiosyncratic and personal the better---can bring a subtle and unique
structure missing from Amazon generated recs or canon-by-committee lists.

~~~
marai2
I too have been wanting to scratch this same itch -- getting book
recommendations from a slightly more informed user base then the typical
amazon recommendations -- so I created an HN clone for such book lists and
recommendations.

[http://vivalabooks.com](http://vivalabooks.com)

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brachi
I've been following the series since the start, I really like this kind of
posts. In this case, 4 out of 5 books where not available in my online
subscription (safari books online), I guess that happens a lot with 'old' or
not so popular books, so I will not skim through them right away, but
definitely added to my wish list.

~~~
pkrumins
Glad you like the series. Yes, many of the best books were written a long time
ago and are now hard to find.

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stepvhen
I'm happy to see an x86 book on there, and that it is free. The last book I
read on the topic (Assembly Language Step by Step) had a strange distaste for
C, Unixers, and in gereral anything that wasn't his own. It also spent 200
pages explaining history and how to set up the Kate text editor.

~~~
pkrumins
Yeah the state of x86 books is very poor. The book that I recommend is the
only x86 book that makes any sense.

If anyone knows any great x86, or actually great assembly books, let me know.
I'd love to find another great book on this topic.

~~~
beastman82
How about you name the "great" and "only x86 book that makes any sense?"

~~~
jlarocco
It is the first book (and presumably the only x86 assembly book) in the list.

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AdmiralAsshat
I envy the person who has both the drive and the free time to have read 100
programming books (and I'm assuming, if this is a true "Best Of" list and not
simply "100 programming books I've read", he has probably read closer to 300
or more).

~~~
_asummers
You should check Alan Kay's list, too. There's some gems on there, not just
programming books.

[http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AlanKaysReadingList](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AlanKaysReadingList)

~~~
mchaver
Fogus also makes a nice list of books and other things at the end of each
year.

[http://blog.fogus.me/2015/12/29/the-best-things-and-stuff-
of...](http://blog.fogus.me/2015/12/29/the-best-things-and-stuff-of-2015/)

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tdsamardzhiev
Glad to see this series hasn't been forgotten!

~~~
pkrumins
Of course not. :) And it's going to go on for a while. Part 20 and beyond.

~~~
calibraxis
Glad. Thought you abandoned it too. Only place I know offhand which groups
many of those particular not-very-common books together.

