Another one that I have (but haven't had time to read yet) is Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg. It might have something that your friend would find interesting.
Another one that may be inspirational, although it's more about personalities than computer science per-se, would be Steven Levy's Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
thanks for the references! i really appreciate you taking the time to reply to my question.
btw "Dreaming in Code" is the only one of those that I've read, and I don't think it's a good fit for my friend because it's basically the story of software project management gone awry ... hardly inspirational for someone aspiring to learn about the beauty of CS :)
Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine might be good for your friend.
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/03164...
Another good option might be Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold.
http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softwa...
Or, how about Coders at Work?
http://www.amazon.com/Coders-Work-Reflections-Craft-Programm...
Another one that I have (but haven't had time to read yet) is Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg. It might have something that your friend would find interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-Code-Programmers-Transcendent...
Another one that may be inspirational, although it's more about personalities than computer science per-se, would be Steven Levy's Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Steven-Lev...