Like Patrick Collision, I enjoy browsing others' bookshelves. I find perusing one's personal library to be a serene experience and prefer it to spoken reviews of the owner.

Yet, below is a selection of my most prized books. The ones not I only enjoyed from start to finish but also feel comfortable recommending to a wide gamut of readers.

Security

• The Cuckoo's Egg
• Serious Cryptography
• Countdown to Zero Day
• The Cult of the Dead Cow

Technology History

• The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
• UNIX: A History and a Memoir
• The Soul of A New Machine
• Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet
• Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

Language

• Common Errors in English Usage
• Bugs in Writing
• The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition
• On Writing Well

Coffee

• The World Atlas of Coffee
• The Coffee Roaster's Companion
• The New Rules of Coffee

Misc

• Millions Billions Zillions
• Between The World and Me
• Istanbul: Memories and the City
• Doing Justice