May I suggest Hackers by Steven Levy [0]. It was a phenomenal and inspirational read for me. Having born during the turn of the century, I'd missed the evolution of computers and programming. This book helped me fill that gap.
Incidentally, Hackers was what I read after I read Masters of Doom. Here's a quote from Masters of Doom:
"
Overnight, it seemed, Carmack was in a strange house, with a strange family and going to a strange school, a junior high with no gifted program or computer’s. He’d never felt so alone. Then one day he realized he wasn’t. The book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution was a revelation.
"
I thought Hackers was great - you might also like two other of Levy's books: In the Plex (which follows Google's history) and Crypto (which is especially relevant today).
Some people find his style dry, but I've found it direct and really interesting (probably because I'm already interested in the material anyway).
Crypto is even better than Hackers, I think. I think Google was expecting In the Plex to valorise its subject as much as Hackers or his Macintosh book Insanely Great (Levy is an old-fashioned Mac loyalist) did theirs, but Levy seems to have come away with a visceral distrust of Google.
Incidentally, Hackers was what I read after I read Masters of Doom. Here's a quote from Masters of Doom:
" Overnight, it seemed, Carmack was in a strange house, with a strange family and going to a strange school, a junior high with no gifted program or computer’s. He’d never felt so alone. Then one day he realized he wasn’t. The book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution was a revelation. "
Edit: Donald Knuth heartily recommends it too[1].
[0] http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Anniversar...
[1] http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/retd.html