Recommended Reading: Non-Fiction

• Applied Cryptography : Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C
  by Bruce Schneier
  The definitive source for all things crypto. -- Duncan
• Distributed Algorithms
  by Nancy A. Lynch
  Excellent source on distributed computing models and algorithms. -- Duncan
• Computer Architecture : A Quantitative Approach
  by David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy, David Goldberg
  Information on computer architectures, both hardware and instruction sets. Caching, memory, optimizations, etc. -- Duncan
• Computer Organization and Design : The Hardware/Software Interface
  by John L. Hennessy, David A. Patterson
  A variation on their earlier book, CA:AQA [also listed]. Geared less towards the computer engineering student and more towards programmers or computer science students who need a solid grounding in hardware issues.
  This book is being used in a Computer Architecture class which I am taking this semester, and at $86 is more interesting then the Calculus book for which I paid about the same price. -- dan@microtech.com
• Unix System Administration Handbook
  by Evi Nimeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein
  Bestselling and most comprehensive guide to UNIX system administration, functions as both an introductory guide for new admins as well as a detailed resource for old, wiser, and more cynical admins as well. No bookshelf is complete without it. (The /\/ Seal of Approval!)
• Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
  by Douglas R. Hofstadter
  Pulitzer Prize-winning treatise on recursion, formal systems, number theory, and every other sort of complex system that we geeks live and breathe. Cannot be described in adjectives. This book will quite likely change your outlook on the world, if not your life. (The /\/ Seal of Approval!)
• A Science Odyssey : 100 Years of Discovery
  by Charles Flowers
  Companion volume to an excellent PBS ten-hour documentary. "Exploring the sweeping changes that have revolutionized both our lives and our thinking in technology, physics, astronomy, earth science, biology, chemistry, paleoanthropology, medicine, public health, and the behavioral sciences over the course of the century, ... probes the discoveries, the people, and the historical events that have shaped scientific ideas." Nothing to do with distributed.net, but good stuff -- Duncan
• Cracking Des : Secrets of Encryption Research, Wiretap Politics & Chip Design
  by Electronic Frontier Foundation, John Gilmore (Editor)
  Full source code in OCR format for EFF DES monster cracking machine which won DES-II-2 - Davehart
• Distributed Systems : Concepts and Design
  by George Coulouris, Jean Dollimore, Tim Kindberg
  This is a nice standard distributed systems text book -- Neal Cardwell (cardwell@cs.washington.edu)

Recommended Reading: Fiction

• Snow Crash
  by Neal Stephenson
  A must read for anyone on the net, or who will ever be there. Inspirational to all programmers and users alike. -- Duncan
• Enigma
  by Robert Harris, David Rosenthal (Editor)
  England 1943. Much of the infamous Nazi Enigma code has been cracked. But Shark, the impenetrable cipher used by Nazi U-boats, eludes everyone. Except for mathematician Tom Jericho. -- Greg Williams (greg@beethoven.cnation.com)

Recommended Reading: Links

• The Association for Computing Machinery
  The largest academic and professional organization dedicated to information technology in the world. The journals and publications of ACM are usually on the cutting edge of what's happening and going to happen in information technology. -- Duncan
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation
  A non-profit civil liberties organization working in the public interest to protect privacy, free expression, and access to public resources and information online, as well as to promote responsibility in new media. -- Duncan

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last modified: 13-Apr-2003

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