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Alan Kay's list of recommended reading
Something I find fascinating about this list is how diverse it is. Out of 100 or so books, only five relate directly to computers. The others come from a multitude of fields. I suspect such breadth is common amongst most of the greatest software innovators - people like Engelbart, Kay, etc. Knowing how to program is useful, but without breadth (and some depth) in other areas, your innovations are unlikely to have depth of their own.
- ptn 19y agoHe's read his share of books...
- david927 19y agoJohn Walker, founder of AutoCAD and programming demi-god, has a reading list that will blow your mind: http://www.fourmilab.ch/fourmilog http://www.fourmilab.ch/fourmilog I've been tipped off to several good books here.
- edw519 19y agoNot to mention this... http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/ http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/
- downer 19y agoAnd my mind didn't even buy the list dinner first.
- michaelneale 19y agoWow. Just reading the summaries makes my head spin (in a nice way).
- gibsonf1 19y agoNo Aristotle in the philosophy section?
- icky 19y ago"Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle. Hobbes was fond of his dram, And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart. 'I drink, therefore I am.'"
- initself 19y agoWow, I can't believe this is here! I was just thinking that and then I thought "No one is going to care" and there you were, caring. Thank you!
- gibsonf1 19y agoAs a programmer I especially care as the epistemology in Aristotle's Organon lies at the core of how our startup models concepts and logical relations between them. Fred Sommer's work on extending that is also extremely helpful, not to mention H. W. B. Joseph's incredible book on logic, the best I've ever read (and I read many) _An Introduction to Logic_.