1. K&R - an absolute essential. I found myself in your shoes about two years ago, picked this up, and worked through it. 2. "The Unix Programming Environment"

1. K&R - an absolute essential. I found myself in your shoes about two years ago, picked this up, and worked through it. 2. "The Unix Programming Environment" (http://www.amazon.com/Unix-Programming-Environment-Prentice-Hall-Software/dp/013937681X http://www.amazon.com/Unix-Programming-Environment-Prentice-...) This is a recent find, but covers more application. It's almost a Part 2 of K&R and covers building problems and the Unix signal and file APIs. The examples are in an ancient syntax, but part of the fun is coding them and getting them to compile. 3. "The C Puzzle Book" (http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Book-Alan-R-Feuer/dp/0201604612 http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Book-Alan-R-Feuer/dp/0201604612) I found this one day at Fry's, and it's fucking awesome. You can effectively learn C using it without a compiler. Good luck!