Ask HN: What book to read to get a footing in CS theory?

CS 61A: The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

Structure and interpretation of computer programs

https://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6del-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden...

I'd recommend The Pragmatic Programmer, A.Hunt, D.Thomas.

the very good book "Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems"

Pair the above with Petzold's "Code"

Petzold's "Code" is wonderful

You should start reading The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth, and solve all exercises

I found "Introduction to Algorithms" to be _waaay_ too dry to deal with in beginning

Bentley, "Programming Pearls"

The book is great for learning new ways to think about problems

The tour helped me a lot with X->Y esque issues where I was building bad solutions because I didn't know anything better could exist.

I’m a fan of Algorithm Design Manual.

the book (The Elements of Computing Systems) of the same course was the first programming text I ever read. Really enthralling!

Would like to add Nand2Tetris[1] which falls in a similar category.

Also "The Elements of Computing Systems", which is as good as SICP but comes at CS from opposite direction

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Computing-since-Democritus-Aa...

"Introduction to Algorithms" by CLRS seems to be the default choice