Classic Literature in all fields

[notposting]

I've realized I need to beef up our library especially in the reference area. Looking for suggestions, the field of study doesn't matter. Whether it's accounting, love, actual literature, farming, whatever. Even if the material is in some ways dated by modernized methods, if it drastically changed the understanding we had at the time it's worthy. If it was written in 2010, probably not.

This could be an interesting list from ATOT

edit: okay, reference is probably not quite the right way to phrase it...ie the books should be readable...a dictionary is a "reference" book, the "Mythical Man-Month" in the first response is a good idea of what I'm looking for. A book on programming in a specific language would likely not be.

 

[unokitty]

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering is a book on software engineering and project management by Fred Brooks.

Uno

 

[pelov]

Project Gutenberg top downloads would be a good place to start.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Just a few off the top of my head:

Origin of Species - Darwin: 'nuff said.
Descent of Man - Darwin: 'nuff said.
Silent Spring - Carson: book that basically started the environmentalism movement.
Dinosaur Heresis - Bakker: great summary of the evidence used to change our idea of dinosaurs from slow, lumbering ectotherms into fast, agile, endotherms.
Shadow of Man - Goodall: first popular press book to show how much chimps are like us.
Coming Plague - Garrett: great summary of how modern life leaves us as vulnerable to disease as ever.

 

[Albatross]

http://www.amazon.com/Principia-Mat...5&sr=1-1&keywords=principia+mathematica+cohen

 

[herm0016]

i still open my Marks from time to time.

http://www.amazon.com/Marks-Standard.../dp/0070049971


or did you mean reference to fill up your shelves and look pretty without actually being very useful?

 

[notposting]

i still open my Marks from time to time.

http://www.amazon.com/Marks-Standard.../dp/0070049971


or did you mean reference to fill up your shelves and look pretty without actually being very useful?

Well, if it is something that can impart knowledge to someone who is not an expert in whatever the topic may be, that would count. Or if it is exceptionally well written, even if not in a tangible subject area (psychology maybe?). Basically, I would want it to be something that I can sit down and read and gain a better understanding...so using the word reference was probably a mistake.

I might need to see if a local library has that Marks book to see if it is what I'm thinking of...ie, I myself will never be engineering anything that requires a licensed engineer (well, outside of end of the world scenarios), but I enjoy gaining some understanding of what's going on and the design considerations.

Checking out the various suggestions right now...

 

[herm0016]

marks is full of tables and procedures, but also of descriptions of things like fuel injection, power generation, different control theories, principals of lubrication, welding of different metals, different manufacturing processes such as casting and extruding....

and those are just a few pages i flipped to randomly. A great manual to rebuild society after the apocalypse.

 

[unokitty]

Strunk and White, Elements of Style.

Uno

 

[sdifox]

amazon has quite a few classic e books free.

 

[lxskllr]

The Cathedral and the Bazaar

download
http://manybooks.net/titles/raymondericother05cathedralandbazaar.html

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar

Edit:
Free as in Freedom
http://shop.fsf.org/product/free-as-in-freedom-2/

Free Software Free Society
http://shop.fsf.org/product/free-software-free-society-2/

Edit2:
Evidence and Procedures For Boundary Location
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...hasandswebpage

Probably a dry read, but it gives an interesting history of how land boundaries were determined, and maintained. It's for land surveying.

Edit3:
Another surveying book...

Boundary Control and Legal Principles
http://www.amazon.com/Browns-Bounda...0470183543/ref=pd_sim_b_1/182-2434588-5874138

 

[zinfamous]

Ulysses--Joyce

Kafka--collected stories

Lolita--Nabokov

Beowulf-Seamus Heaney translation

The collected works of William Butler Yeats.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being--Kundera


to add to the science:

The Double Helix--by that wise and beautiful woman James Watson

The Structure of Evolutionary Theory--S J Gould (or the various collected essays of Gould are great to have around, as well)