I'd say every programmer should read 1984 by George Orwell, to always keep in mind the big picture implications of their work. When I first read it, I got shiv

I'd say every programmer should read 1984 by George Orwell, to always keep in mind the big picture implications of their work. When I first read it, I got shivers: "this book is about google!" And after Amazon deleted the very same book from every Kindle remotely ... you could not ask for a more ironic example of how well Orwell predicted things.