A required reading list for Geeks
Excuse the formatting. Copying it over from OpenOffice it threw off my tab marks and things. I've included references for all my sources at the bottom (end).
Many people have written a recommended reading list for “geeks.” I'm not sure I can claim to be all knowing, but at my first brush with this, I figured I'd take some books from various lists and add them with my own (there was already a lot of overlap) to produce my own list. While I've read many of them, I still have quite a way to go.
These are some "random" books I need to track down (I haven't yet found the author...just haven't devoted the time to it).
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Code Complete
Conelius
Curse of the Challion
Discworld
Elric
Fallen Angels (www.webscription.net//c-1-free-library.aspx)
Gene Wolfe
Individuals and their Rights
Intervention
IWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon
Rorum
Sophie's World
Tau Zero
The City & The City China
The cluetrain Manifesto
The Mythical Man-Month:Essays on Software Engineering
The Phantom Tollbooth
Time Enough for Love
To Fly With Pegasus
Tunnel In The Sky
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are
Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
This is a collection of books (where a specific title or series was listed) sorted by the Author.
| Author | Book(s) |
|---|---|
| Abbott, Edwin Abbott | Flatland |
| Adams, Douglas | Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (Series) |
| Adams, Scott | The Dilbert Principle |
| Aldrin, Buzz | Encounter With Tiber |
| Alexander, Christpoher | A Pattern Langauge |
| Anthony, Piers | Apprentice Adept Series |
| Anthony, Piers | Xanth (Series) |
| Anthony, Piers | Incarnations of Immortality (Series) |
| Aristotle | On Politics |
| Asimov, Isaac | I, Robot |
| Asimov, Issac | Bicentennial Man |
| Assimov, Issac | Foundation (Trilogy?) |
| Aurelius, Marcus | Mediatations |
| Berry, Max | Jennifer Government |
| Beshers, Alex | Rim (Series – Rim, Mir, Chi) |
| Blish, James | A Case of Conscious |
| Bradbury, Ray | Fahrenheit 451 |
| Bradbury, Ray | The Illustrated Man |
| Bradbury, Ray | Martian Chronicles |
| Brin, David | Uplift (Series) |
| Brin, David | Startide Rising |
| Brin, David | Sundiver |
| Brooks, Terry | The Sword of Shannara |
| Brooks,Max | World War Z:An Oral History of the Zombie War |
| Brown, Craig & Ikbal, Javed | The Laidoff Ninja |
| Burroughs, Edgar Rice | John Carter of Mars (Series) |
| Burroughs, Edgar Rice | Tarzan of the Apes (Series) |
| Calvino, Italo | Cosmicomics |
| Calvino, Italo | If On A Winter's Night A Traveller |
| Campbell, Bruce | If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor |
| Card, Orson Scott | Enders Game |
| Card, Orson Scott | Ender (Series) |
| Carey, Jacqueline | Kushiel |
| Carr, Nicholas G. | Does It Matter? |
| Castaneda, Carolos | Unknown |
| Chaucer | Canterbury Tales |
| Cherryh, C.J. | Heavy Time |
| Cherryh, C.J. | Foreigner |
| Clark, Arthur C | 2001 A Space Odyssey |
| Clarke, Arthur C. | Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the limits of the Possible |
| Clarke, Arthur C. | Rendezvous With Rama |
| Colfer, Eoin | Artemis Fowl (Series) |
| Colfer, Eoin | And Another Thing |
| Cook, Rick | The Wiz Series |
| Coupland, Douglas | Unknown |
| Crichton, Michael | Airframe |
| Crichton, Michael | Jurassic Park |
| Crichton, Michael | Prey |
| Crispin, A. C. | The Han Solo Trilogy |
| Crowley, John | Little, Big |
| Dan Ariely | Predicably Irrational |
| De Montaigne, Michel | Essays |
| Delaney, Samuel R | Dhalgren |
| Dick, Philip K | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? |
| Dick, Philip K. | Bladerunner |
| Dickinson, Gordon R | Alien Art |
| Donaldson, Stephen R | The Gap |
| Drake, David | Royal Cinnabar Navy (Series) |
| Drake, David | Reaches (Series) |
| Drake, David | Lieutenant Leary |
| Eco, Umberto | Foucault's Pendulum |
| Eddings, David | Belgariad (Series) |
| Effinger, George Alec | When Gravity Falls |
| Epictetus | Discourses |
| Erikson, Steven | Unknown |
| Feist, Raymond E. | The Serpentwar Saga (Series) |
| Flint, Eric | 1632 |
| Forstchen, William R | The Lost Regiment |
| Gabaldon, Diana | Voyager (Series) |
| Gaiman, Neil | American Gods |
| Gates,Bill | The Road Ahead |
| Gently, Dirk | Holistic Detecive Agency (Series) |
| Gerrold/Niven | The Flying Sorcers |
| Gibson, William | Difference Engine |
| Gibson, William | Neuromancer |
| Haldeman, Joe | The Forever War |
| Hamilton, Peter | Night's Dawn Trilogy |
| Hawking, Stephen | A brief History of Time |
| Heinlein, Robert A | The Number of the Beast |
| Heinlein, Robert A | The Cat Who Walks Through Walls |
| Heinlein, Robert A | Have Spacesuit WilL Travel |
| Heinlein, Robert A | Farnham's Freehold |
| Heinlein, Robert A | Job: A Comedy of Justice |
| Heinlein, Robert A | Friday |
| Heinlein, Robert A | Past Through The Future |
| Heinlein, Robert A | Stranger in a Strange Land |
| Heinlein, Robert A | Starship Troopers |
| Herbert, Frank | Dune (Series) |
| Herbert, Frank | Destination Void |
| Herbert, Frank | The Dosadi Experiment |
| Hoban, Russell | Riddley Walker |
| Hodgson, William Hope | The Night Land |
| Hofstadter, Douglas R | Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid |
| Homer | Odysey |
| Homer | Illiad |
| Hoyle, Fred | A for Andromeda |
| Huxley, Aldous | Brave New World |
| Iles, Greg | Various |
| Jacques, Brian | Redwell (Series) |
| Johnson, Steven | Everything Bad is Good for You |
| Jones, Tery | Larry Cottington |
| Kidder, Tracy | The Soul of a New Machine |
| King, Stephen | Dark Tower Series |
| King, Stephen | The Stand |
| L'Engle, Madeline | Wrinkle in Time (Series) |
| Laumer, Keith | Various |
| Leguin, Ursula K | Wizard of Earthsea |
| Lem, Stanislaw | Various |
| Levy, Steven | Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution |
| Lewis, C.S. | The Chronicles of Narnia (Series) |
| Locke, John | Long, Lazurus(?) |
| Lopate, Philip | The Art of the Personal Essay |
| Lovecraft, H.P. | The Shadow over Innsmouth |
| Lovecraft, H.P. | The Call of Cthulhu |
| Lovecraft, HP | Shadows over Innsmouth |
| McCaffrey, Anne | Pern (Series) |
| Nash, Nicole Bremer | The Geek Atlas |
| Niven & Pournelle | Lucifer's Hammer |
| Niven & Pournelle | Fallen Angels |
| Niven & Pournelle | Footfall |
| Niven, Larry | Ringworld |
| Niven, Larry | Known Space |
| Niven, Larry & Pournelle | The Mote in God's Eye |
| Norton, Andre | Various |
| Orwell, George | 1984 |
| Ovid | |
| Peter, Laurence J & Hull | The Peter Principle: Why Things Go Wrong |
| Pineiro, R. J. | Havoc |
| Piper, H. Beam | Little Fuzzy (Series) |
| Pirsig, Robert M | Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance |
| Pirsig,Robert M | Lila |
| Pratchett, Terry | Tiffany Aching (Series) |
| Pratchtt, Terry | Good Omens |
| Pullman, Philip | His Dark materials |
| Rand, Ayn | The Fountainhead |
| Rand, Ayn | Atlas Shrugged |
| Reynolds, Alastair | Revelation Space |
| Rhodes, Richard | The Making of the Atomic Bomb |
| Ringo, John | Looking Glass (Series) |
| Ringo, John | Al'Denata (Series) |
| Robinson, Kim Stanley | Various |
| Rowlings, J K | Harry Potter |
| Russell, Eric Frank | Wasp |
| Saberhagen, Brett | Berserkers (Series) |
| Sagan, Carl | Dragons of Eden |
| Sagan, Carl | Contact |
| Scalzi, John | Old Man's War |
| Scalzi, John | Ghost Brigades |
| Seneca | Letters from a Stoic |
| Shakespere, William | Various |
| Shelley, Mary | Frankenstein |
| Sheppard, Mike | Kris Longknife (Series) |
| Simmons, Dan | Hyperion |
| Sitchin, Zecharia | The Twelf Planet |
| Smith, E. E. | Spacehounds of the IPC |
| Smith, E. E. | Lensman (Series) |
| Spillane, Mickey | Various |
| Steele, Allen | Various |
| Stephenson, Neal | Anathem |
| Stephenson, Neal | Snow crash |
| Stirling, S.M. | Emberverse |
| Stirling, S.M. | Nantucket |
| Stoll, Clif | The Cuckoo's Egg |
| Stross, Chrales | Cthulu Mythos (Series) |
| Suarez, Daniel | (High Tech Thrillers) |
| Tapscott, Don | Wikinomics:How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything |
| Toffler, Alvin | The Next Wave |
| Toffler, Alvin | Future Schock |
| Tolkien, JRR | The Lord of the Rings Trilogy |
| Tolkien, JRR | The Hobbit |
| Turtledove, Harry | Guns of the South |
| Varley, John | The Ophiuchi Hotline |
| Verne, Jules | 20000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| Vidal, Gore | Messiah |
| Vise, David A. | The Google Story |
| Vonnegut, Kurt | Player Piano |
| Vonnegut,Kurt | Slaughterhouse-Five |
| Weber, David | Safehold (Series) |
| Weber, David | Honor Harrington (Series) |
| Wells, H.G. | War of the Worlds |
| Wells, HG | The Time Machine |
| Williams, Tad | Otherland (Series) |
| Wilson, Robert Anton, et al | Illuminatus Trilogy |
| Wyndham, John | The Day of the Triffids |
| Zachary, G. Pascal | Show-Stopper! |
| Zelasny, Roger | Amber (Series) |
| Zelasny, Roger | Jack of Shadows (Series) |
Some references, for those who are interested, include:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=413
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=695
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=4574
Additional resources
Geeks and IT pros are not always one in the same: 10 books every IT pro should read (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1209).
Jay Garmon likely doesn’t agree with me either: The perfect sci-fi library (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=1246).