This is where one gets to hold forth on books. One thinks one's qualified to recommend books, because one reads everything that comes within arm's length. That said, here's the sections:
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.
This is the classic work on the nature of the machine that is the mind. In dialogues and essays, Hofstadter explores what the mind is, why it's possible for machines to think, the nature of creativity, recursion, mathematics... If one were given to using phrases like 'whirlwind romp', this would certainly apply.Metamagical Themas
This is a collection of the essays/articles Hofstadter wrote for Scientific American in his "Metamagical Themas" column, the successor to Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games". (The title of the former is a anagram of the latter.) THe postscripts and addenda to the articles are fantastic, if the articles themselves weren't well worth the purchase price.
Between the cute Javanese tiger on the cover and the very well put-together reference inside, this book's a real winner. It's from O'Reilly, which makes some of the best computer books around.Java examples in a nutshell
And the companion volume, with lots of great example programs. Good Stuff.Practical C Programming
Yet another great book from O'Reilly; fantastic material, as usual, and the woodcut (predominately animal) illustrations on the covers are the best reassurance short of "Don't Panic" in large, friendly, letters.Practical C++ Programming
And the C++ version.The C Programming Language, ANSI C edition
The C book. Kernighan and Ritchie, K&R for short. A must-have for C programmers and those aspiring.C: A Reference Manual
And the recommended C reference. By Samuel Harbison and Guy Steele.Learning Perl
This is, of course, the Perl tutorial. 'Nuff said.Professional Active Server Pages 2.0
And a nice book on ASPs.
One of one's absolute favorite books of all time. Cutting science fiction, grounded in people, not the science.Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card
A collection of Card's short stories; this collection includes the original short story version of Ender's Game, as well as the intensely chilling short story 'Lost Boys'. Highly recommended.
The collection of the first three books in this funny, moving, and ridiculously good series of stories about Callahan's Place, the bar where shared pain is lessened, shared joy increased, and anything can happen. Very, very good science fiction, and very, very good fiction in general. And some of the godawfullest puns you'll ever hear.The Callahan Touch
The first book about Mary's Place, the successor to Callahan's.Callahan's Legacy
More great stuff; another book about Mary's Place.Off the Wall at Callahan's
More fun from Callahan's place. This isn't a collection of stories; rather, it's a collection of the quotes, sayings, puns, and whatnot that hangs over the bar in Callahan's Place, where a mirror would be if Mike Callahan had any desire to encourage narcissim.
This is a beautiful, one-volume, hardback edition of the seven Narnia books. The complete text, plus illustrations by Pauline Baynes.
The Technique of Film and Video Editing: Theory and Practice
A fantastic album, released in 1969 to applause from critics and music lovers, but pretty much silence from everybody else. Re-released in 1994, this album by Spider John Koerner and Willie Murphy is fantastic.
Remakes of classic cartoon songs by various artists.
One's moved a few things to their own pages due to the fact that they deserve their own space.