Ask HN: The book that did it for you in math and/or CS?

SICP

I love SICP, it really make functional programming click for me.

Mine was discovering functional closures and object instances are two sides of the same coin.

SICP for CS and programming. That book (and its exercises) really instilled in me the thought patterns that drastically improved my programming skills

SICP. I only read a little, but that little bit was enough for something to really click for me.

I'm not completely sure what would have been my experience if SICP was my first contact with CS.

Hofstadter: Godel Escher Bach

& Godel, Escher, Bach.

I think Pragmatic Programmer is a more interesting book.

Code Complete has chapters on classes, functions

Code Complete (2nd Edition) by Steve McConnell.

That one is good too, though it can get a little obscure in some sections.. I tried reading it twice! The first time I was stuck on the memory chapter. The second time I was stalled by the clock and synchronization thing, but it's still a great book.

Code The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

What initially turned me into a curious person were Surely You Are Joking Mr Feynman

So for me it was TAOCP

I don't plan on reading TAOCP anymore

The Little Schemer

CLR Algorithms book

I also like Clean Code by Bob Martin.

Polya: How to Solve it

Spivak Calculus. Fantastic book.

Spivak's Calculus