This document consists of great books or articles on computer science, game design, and some miscellaneous books. Some are here because there is a course covering the same material; some are just great books that you should read at some point in your career.
Once you have made it through most of the curriculum, knowing whether a book is worth your time will become easier. Or, if you are struggling in one of the courses, perhaps reading a book on the subject will help.
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ⬜ | Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python 2e | John V. Guttag |
| ⬜ | Think Python 2e | Allen B. Downey |
| ⬜ | How to Design Programs | Matthias Felleisen, Robert Bruce Findler, Matthew Flatt, Shriram Krishnamurthi |
| ⬜ | Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs | Hal Abelson, Jerry Sussman, Julie Sussman |
| ⬜ | Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming | Peter Van Roy, Seif Haridi |
| ⬜ | Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software | Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides |
| ⬜ | Refactoring | Martin Fowler |
| ✅ | Clean Code | Robert Martin |
| ⬜ | Code Complete 2e | Steve McConnell |
| ⬜ | The Pragmatic Programmer | Andrew Hunt, David Thomas |
| ⬜ | Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation | Shriram Krishnamurthi |
| ⬜ | Programming and Programming Languages | Shriram Krishnamurthi, Benjamin S. Lerner, Joe Gibbs Politz |
| ⬜ | Competitive Programming | Steven Halim, Felix Halim |
| ⬜ | The Elements of Programming Style | Brain W. Kernighan, P.J. Plauger |
| ⬜ | The Practice of Programming | Brain W. Kernighan,Rob Pike |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ⬜ | Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets | Peter Van Der Linden |
| ⬜ | Modern C | Jens Gustedt |
| ⬜ | The C Programming Language | Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ⬜ | Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example | Mike Hendrickson, Andrew Koenig |
| ⬜ | A Tour of C++, Second Edition) | Bjarne Stroustrup |
| ⬜ | Effective Modern C++ | Scott Meyers |
| ⬜ | More Effective C++ | Scott Meyers |
| ⬜ | The C++ Programming Language, Fourth Edition | Bjarne Stroustrup |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ⬜ | Calculus Made Easy | Silvanus P. Thompson |
| ⬜ | Ximera: Interactive Calculus Textbooks | Ximera team |
| ⬜ | Discrete Mathematics with Applications (4th Edition) | Susanna S. Epp |
| ⬜ | Discrete Mathematics: An Open Introduction | Oscar Levin |
| ⬜ | Applied Discrete Structures | Alan Doerr, Ken Levasseur |
| ⬜ | Grinstead and Snell’s Introduction to Probability | Charles M. Grinstead, J. Laurie Snell |
| ⬜ | Introduction to Linear Algebra | Gilbert Strang |
| ⬜ | Essential Mathematics for Games and Interactive Applications | James M. Van Verth & Lars M. Bishop |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | But How Do It Know? | J. Clark Scott |
| ⬜ | Types and Programming Languages | Benjamin C. Pierce |
| ⬜ | The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software | Charles Petzold |
| ⬜ | Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective (3rd Edition) | Randal E. Bryant, David R. O'Hallaron |
| ⬜ | Modern Operating Systems (4th Edition) | Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Herbert Bos |
| ⬜ | Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface | David Patternson, John Hennessy |
| ⬜ | Computer Networks (5th Edition) | Andrew S. Tanenbaum, David J. Wetherall |
| ⬜ | Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (6th Edition) | James F Kurose, Keith W Ross |
| ⬜ | Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms | Andrew Tanenbaum |
| ⬜ | Distributed Systems Reading Group | Various |
| ⬜ | System Design: Design large-scale systems | Various |
| ⬜ | Operating Systems Design and Implementation | Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Albert S. Woodhull |
| ⬜ | Principles of Compiler Design | Alfred Aho, Jeffrey Ullman |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ⬜ | Introduction to Computing: Explorations in Language, Logic, and Machines | David Evans |
| ⬜ | Introduction to the Theory of Computation | Michael Sipser |
| ⬜ | Introduction to Algorithms (3rd Edition) | Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, Clifford Stein |
| ⬜ | The Algorithm Design Manual | Steven Skiena |
| ⬜ | Category Theory: A Gentle Introduction | Peter Smith |
| ⬜ | Category Theory for Programmers: The Preface | Bartosz Milewski |
| ⬜ | An Introduction to Information Retrieval | Christopher D. Manning, Prabhakar Raghavan, Hinrich Schütze |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ⬜ | Architecture of a Database System | Joseph M. Hellerstein, Michael Stonebraker, James Hamilton |
| ⬜ | Readings in Database Systems | Peter Bailis, Joseph M. Hellerstein, Michael Stonebraker, editors |
| ⬜ | Database Management Systems | Raghu Ramakrishnan, Johannes Gehrke |
| ⬜ | Transaction Processing: Concepts and Techniques | Jim Gray, Andreas Reuter |
| ⬜ | Data and Reality: A Timeless Perspective on Perceiving and Managing Information in Our Imprecise World | William Kent |
| ⬜ | The Architecture of Open Source Applications | Michael DiBernardo (editor) |
| ⬜ | An Introduction to Statistical Learning | Gareth James, Daniela Witten, Trevor Hastie and Robert Tibshirani |
| ⬜ | Deep Learning | Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio and Aaron Courville |
| ⬜ | Bayesian Reasoning and Machine Learning | David Barber |
| ⬜ | Language Implementation Patterns | Terence Parr |
| ⬜ | Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools (2nd Edition) | Alfred V. Aho, Monica S. Lam, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey D. Ullman |
| ⬜ | Compiler Construction | Niklaus Wirth |
| ⬜ | The Mythical Man-Month | Fred Brooks, Jr. |
| ⬜ | Physically Based Rendering: From Theory To Implementation | Matt Pharr, Wenzel Jakob, and Greg Humphreys |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ✅ | A Theory of Fun for Game Design | Raph Koster |
| ✅ | Developer's Dilemma: The Secret World of Video Game Creators | Casey O'Donnell |
| ✅ | Understanding Comics | Scott McCloud |
| ✅ | Boss Fight Books: Earthbound | Ken Baumann |
| ✅ | Uncertainty in Games | Greg Costikyan |
| ⬜ | Game Engine Architecture, Third Edition | Jason Gregory |
| ✅ | The Art of Game Design | Jesse Schell |
| ⬜ | Level Up! | Scott Rogers |
| ⬜ | Framed Ink | Marcos Mateu-Mestre |
| ⬜ | Things We Think About Games | Will Hindmarch & Jeff Tidball |
| ⬜ | Thinking Like a Game Designer | Justin Gary |
| ⬜ | A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and their Players | Jesper Juul |
| ⬜ | Atari Age: The Emergence of Video Games in America | Michael Z. Newman |
| ⬜ | Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds | Celia Pearce |
| ⬜ | Critical Play: Radical Game Design | Mary Flanagan |
| ⬜ | Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games | Tracy Fullerton |
| ⬜ | Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation | Steve Swink |
| ⬜ | Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design | Ernest Adams & Joris Dormans |
| ⬜ | I am Error | Nathan Altice |
| ⬜ | Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture | T.L. Taylor |
| ⬜ | Play Matters | Miguel Sicart |
| ⬜ | Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System | Dominic Arsenault |
| ⬜ | The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games | Jesper Juul |
| ⬜ | The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World | William Sims Bainbridge |
| ⬜ | The Well-Played Game: A Player's Philosophy | Bernard De Koven |
| ⬜ | Values at Play in Digital Games | Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum |
| ⬜ | Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art | John Sharp |
| ⬜ | Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga | Hirohiko Araki |
| ⬜ | Story | Roberty McKee |
| ⬜ | 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School | Matthew Frederick |
| Read | Name | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ⬜ | The Imposter's Handbook | Rob Conery |