Standard and Interesting Books for IT & Engineering

Question

Hello all, I am a Computer Engineer, fresh off graduation, and I would like to educate myself on a broad range of technological fields and aspects. I am the kind of person who is easily distracted while reading from a screen, and so I would like to ask fellow daniweb members about the best books for computer related topics. I consider my level to be intermediate in some fields, and beginner in others. Some books are de facto standards in a certain technology field, others can be classified as Hidden Gems, while others are Interesting Reads (like GUI Bloopers). Therefore, I would love to hear what is everybody's book recommendation in the following fields:

• Programming (C++, C# and Java)
• Secure coding
• Networking
• Electronics (design and simulation)
• Security (attacks and countermeasures)
• Web development (especially Ruby and Perl)
• Unix systems
• Win32 development
• Databases
• Computer Architecture
• Infrastructure (Think national level)
• Computer industry business management

These are my desired topics for the next 8 months or so, and I would like to immerse myself into said topics in different methods. Note that I'm not asking about what is everybody's top 10 books, rather I'm asking about each of the above categories. For example in Security, what do you think is the solid reference, which one do you think is the interesting, thought provoking read, and which one do you think is the Hidden Gem that is amazing but not well known?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Here's the answer that was given on Daniweb when this was asked there.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/170208/must-have-books-on-your-bookshelf

Answer 2

For "Computer Architecture" I absolutely suggest "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach"

Using this book right now and it's thoroughly informative and a decently easy read.

Answer 3

For Security:

Security Engineering will help you think in terms of how to design and break systems. It's a classic and very broad.

Software Security explains how security fits into all areas of the Software Development LifeCycle (SDLC). It's the most practical book I know that doesn't delve into specific languages or platforms.

The Web Security Testing Cookbook is a very practical, black-box security testing guide. I don't recommend it to anyone but those assessing the security of web applications. I only bring it up because I co-authored it and I shamelessly self promote.

So, two solid recommendations and a third that you can ignore.