What books would you suggest that are not very technical but still talk about programming or other aspects of it. Books that are not tied down to a specific technology or language but instead talk about the field of programming.
I saw some list on Jeff's [blog][1] but looking for some more interesting titles..
I like fiction - by Neal Stephenson, say Cryptonomicon. Talks about cryptography, and Turing machines in an well built story.
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is quite a good book. it opens the eyes of even experienced programmers.
it is available for free at
What non-programming books should programmers read?
What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
Best programming novel to take on holiday
What development book made the most impact on you as a developer?
My favorite non-programming books always teach me something I thought I knew but actually didn't. Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos had a huge impact on who I am today as a programmer. My copy of Innumeracy has been read by at least a half a dozen friends. This book teaches us that we really (as a populous) don't understand math like we think we do. Similarly and more recently The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow has been allot of fun the author shows us randomness in a way I had never looked at it before. As a programmer we often think deterministically in logic and absolute. Mlodinow shows us how to look at the randomness of life with in same kind of logical understanding we apply to our work. Great reads I hope for your own sake you check them out.
Following up on "The Drunkard's Walk", you've got to read Taleb's "The Black Swan". It's a great cautionary tale about the dangers of ignoring the improbable and putting too much faith into models.
With that said, you can't be too rich, too thin, or know too much math. Here are some of my personal favorites:
I'd recommend delving into some area of expertise like applied biology, statistics, etc. so you can be your own domain expert - or at least understand real domain experts better when they talk to you.
The famous book Elements Of Style applies as much to programming as it does to writing a a novel.
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, by Alan Cooper - "the father of Visual Basic".
I'd suggest Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It delves into a lot of interesting and relevant philosophy, such as the split between technical and aesthetic reasoning. I've found it remarkably insightful toward development and programming.
These aren't all directly about programming, but they range into the creative side of development (or problem solving), in my view.
The most realistic depiction of the life of a computer programmer ever written is Fred Moody’s I Sing the Body Electronic.
I think Godel, Escher and Bach is a fantastic book that eventually gets into AI, by Douglas Hofstadter, and I really liked his book Le Ton Beau de Marot, which is fantastic if you want to get an idea as to the difficulty of translating.
Anything by Bruce Sterling or William Gibson is great, as a way to see what a tech society could be like.