I was rearranging the bookshelves in my office recently and was taken aback by the number of books I have. A quick count yielded well over a hundred volumes — and that was just the books on my shelves. I have quite a few more boxed up in storage. Have I read them all? You bet. Are they all page-turners, copious compendiums of geek wisdom? Absolutely not. Some of them are real stinkers.

Once I realized how many books I had — and how much money I've spent — I thought it would be interesting to make a list of my favorites. I've relied heavily on my library during my 15 years in information technology, and have found myself referring to the same books time and time again. Some of my choices will be obvious to you; others are a bit more esoteric. You may disagree with some of my selections, and that's fine by me. I'm interested in your opinions, so if you think I've really missed the mark, or if you have a favorite book of your own, send me an email. I'll post your comments in the ITworld.com Enterprise Networking forum.

Currier's Top Ten Information Technology Books

10. Algorithms

Robert Sedgewick

Addison-Wesley, 1983

It might seem strange to have a book on algorithms on a list of information technology books. After all, we're not woolly-haired computer scientists, we're technogeeks, right? Think again. Sedgewick's book provides a solid foundation in algorithms: computer-based methods for solving problems. If you can make it through this book, you'll have a good understanding of the mathematics behind most technology we use today. This is not an easy read, but it's well worth slogging through.

9. Casting the Net

Peter H. Salus

Addison-Wesley, 1995

Anyone working in the information technology field should have a good understanding of the Internet's history. Casting the Net is a detailed study of the growth of the Internet, from its beginnings in 1968 as four BBN nodes to late 1994. Like Algorithms, Casting the Net can be a bit hard to take at times — it is written in a semiacademic style and makes frequent references to Request For Comments and interoffice correspondence. But despite those drawbacks, the book is a treasure trove of documentation and history. Vint Cerf's "Requiem for the ARPANET" and Len Kleinrock's poems are worth the price of the book.

8. The Magic Garden Explained

Berny Goodheart & James Cox

Prentice Hall, 1994

If you've ever wondered what the internals of the Unix System V kernel look like, this book's for you. The Magic Garden Explained gives readers a detailed look at the kernel's structure, including memory management, filesystem management, process control, and streams. Of all the books on my list, this volume is probably the most difficult to read. You won't make it through The Magic Garden in one sitting. But if you've ever asked yourself "Why on earth did they design this feature this way?", you'll probably find the answer buried somewhere in the 664

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