Structured Computer Organization

In no particular order and off the top of my head; The Sherlock Holmes canonical stories - The importance of logical reasoning and brain over brawn. Instrumental in teaching me to think. Physics for Entertainment (and other books) by Ya. Perelman - Beauty and understanding of Science. Instrumental in giving me a lifelong interest in Science/Technology. Structured Computer Organization by Andrew Tanenbaum - Instrumental in teaching me the layering of abstractions by which something complex can arise from more simpler and detailed components. Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda and The Science of Yoga by Swami Sivananda - Instrumental in introducing me to Hindu philosophy. Bruce lee's fighting method (3 vols) - Instrumental in introducing me to Martial Arts and physical culture. The above books were the ones which sparked my interest in their respective domains decades ago (late 1980s/early 1990s in India) when books were hard to come by and money wasn't available either. When i look around today, books are so easily available and yet people have stopped reading and even seem to lack curiosity.

all of Tanenbaum's books, especially Structured Computer Organization

Over the years I've found the following CS books helpful, but only a minority in my day-to-day work. Your mileage may vary, as would the utility of these to you. Algorithms -> Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs by Wirth (worth its weight in gold if you can get past the Pascal syntax) OS -> Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz et al (The dinosaur book) CS Theory -> Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation by Hopcroft, Ullman Programming Languages Theory -> Programming languages: design and implementation by Pratt et al Database Theory -> Database Design by Wiederhold Architecture -> Structured Computer Organization by Andrew S Tanenbaum