What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
I'm not sure that all those people on Stackexchange have read the question properly.<p>The question is "What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?"
I.e. given the set of books that every programmer should read, which one is the single most influential?<p>As a programmer, lets consider the answer to the question, as parsed logically (regardless of intent).<p>Typing 'most influential books' into Google brings me to this list: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Most_Influential_Books_Ever_Written_(book)" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Most_Influential_Books_...</a><p>It turns out its just one persons opinion - but pageranked to the top for 'most influential books'; and notable enough for wikipedia - thats good enough crowd-vetting for my purposes.<p>If I knew which books all programmers should read, it'd now be a simple matter of finding the highest ranked; but here, I have to use my judgement.<p>So I suggest:<p>Number 13, Euclid's Elements<p>Number 32, Machiavelli's The Prince<p>Number 93, Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four<p>I'm not sure every programmer should read <i>Elements</i> - maybe, but its a little abstract these days.<p>I think <i>The Prince</i> would be good reading for the softer skills of the programming profession - and genuinely has really influenced management thinking; its short, so probably worth everyone's time.<p>Finally, I believe without a doubt, <i>1984</i> should certainly be required reading for all programmers - a single read is worth a great many 'ethics for technologists' courses.<p>There are other candidates on that list too, but I don't think there's anything that I'm as certain all programmers should read as 1984.<p>Any differing opinions?