"If you only read one book, make it this one." OK, so maybe that's a cliche, but I'd suggest starting with Matthew and John. You can read the whole thing if you want, but to me, Jesus' philosophy, related in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is most important, and will take you a lifetime to master, anyway.
Unless you can read it the native French, I'd suggest the Penguin Classics translation by Norman Denny. The movie was neat, and I'm sure some of the abridgements are fine, but there's nothing quite like working through the thousand page original. The novel's two overriding themes are Christianity and Democracy, and I'd even propose Misérables is Hugo's attempt to reconcile the two. In my opinion, he fails, but that's the subject for an entire English paper...
It may take a physics major to appreciate this tome, but Kraus' book fills a gap in my knowledge that I've had since college. What are these gadgets that convert electricity to radio waves and how do they work? I can't claim to have read the whole thing (it's not a cover-to-cover kind of text), but it wouldn't be on this list if I didn't respect it. The beginning of Chapter 7 is classic.
Thorough, well-researched, objective biography of Fidel Castro's right-hand man, one of the top ten communists of all time. Anderson traces Ernesto "Che" Guevara's life from his privileged upbringing in Argentina, through his education as a doctor, travels across Latin America, conversion to communism, and leadership in the Cuban revolution, ultimately becoming a leading proponent of armed, socialist uprising as a solution to the developing world's problems. It was Anderson's research into this book, incidently, that lead to the discovery of Che's remains and their return to Cuba 30 years after his death.
You were probably forced through The Grapes of Wrath back in grade school, but don't let that discourage you from tackling Steinbeck's epic modernization of the Cain and Abel story - unless you're looking for something shorter than 1000 pages, in which case I recommend the author's Canary Row.
Authored by one of the great chess masters of the twentieth century, the value of this book is not just its winning tactics and hundreds of solved problems, but the insight it offers into the precision of Fine's mind. I particularly recommend Chapter 2, "King and Pawn Endings", since only two types of pieces are involved, though the analysis proceeds methodically for almost eighty pages.
Merlin and the boy King Authur are the key figures in this tale of the later's youth. The sorcerer, living backwards in time, justly stands as one of the great literary characters of all time. Rather than focusing on knights in shining armor and damsels in distress, this story takes everyday life in a medieval manor for its backdrop. Can be found in the compilation volume The Once and Future King.
One of the better books in the technical side of my library, Aho's compiler text can be subdivided into two sections. The first several chapters focus on parsing the input, offer several different strategies for code and data structures, and are useful not just for parsing strategies, but for insight into the design of efficient algorithms. The remainder of the book focuses on backend issues such as code generation and optimization. While not specific to any language or compiler, Aho pairs well with the gcc source code.
Probably the best war novel I've ever come across. Remarque combines all the classic elements of fiction - a fluid plot, believable characters and the stunning setting of World War I trench warfare - to create a compelling account of how war destroys survivors as surely as victims. Particularly recommended for fatalistic Gen Xers.
Si. No. OK, my Spanish isn't much better than that, but I'm still trying to learn, and Duff's book is one of the better beginner's texts I've checked out, and believe me, I've checked out quite a few! A well-written combination of vocabulary, grammer, reading selections and general tips for picking up a foreign language.
Well, while I'm on the subject of learning aids, I have to mention Denyer's collection of just about every useful bit of information for the beginning guitarist. A bit of history, a bit of electronics, and of course something about music, too. Not only does this book list all those scales I can't play, but I was even able to figure out how to rewire my electric. Turns out I'm better with a soldering iron than a pick... go figure...
In the summer of 1978 an East German hijacked a Polish airliner with a toy pistol and "forced" the pilot to land at West Berlin's Tempelhof Airport. Faced with an act of air piracy, the U.S government felt compelled to prosecute the hijacker or risk similar acts going unpunished when American planes were forced to land in Soviet bloc nations. Thus began one of the more bizarre trials of the century, aptly related by Stern, the American judge who presided over the case.