inklesspen

A little dated (it's directed at mainframe developers and their managers) but still relevant.

Learn to write clearly -- it's valuable no matter what you do.

Why not read Dive into Python -- it's excellent -- and then learn about the new stuff in 2.5 later.

Easily some of the best storytelling I've ever read. 1/3 comedy, 2/3 adventure, in an ancient China that never was.

Easily the best programming text I've read in the last year, and it's sold me on Erlang.

Simply the most idea-packed book I've ever read that was actually entertaining.

has one of the best treatments of post-singularity life (and what makes life in general worth living) that I've ever read

I'd suggest starting with an O'Reilly book like