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Top Ten Books

You're frantically scouring the shelves of Books Etc. at Terminal 1. You've got ten minutes to get to your departure gate, if you don't want to miss the flight. Your nervousness about missing the plane is tempered by an exactly equal degree of anxiety at the thought of spending two weeks on an obscure Greek island with nothing to read but the in-flight magazine.

You're desperate to buy something. You'd even stick a hardback on your credit card if you could see a decent one. OK, so you've got something by Nick Hornby in your bag, and your other half has a Bill Bryson. But will it be enough? Now desperate, you pick up a copy of the latest Tom Clancy and walk towards the till, but think better of it after two paces. Your nearest and dearest is now mouthing swear words at you from the other side of the glass. Defeated, you grab a copy of The Independent and head for the till.

If this reminds you of you then you need to plan ahead. The first rule is never buy books at an airport - you never have enough time for a good browse, and almost always end up buying something you would never dream of buying in normal circumstances. In any case, no self-respecting nerd would admit to buying a book in a shop, when they can be ordered perfectly well over the Internet from amazon.com.

If you are into computers there are now a growing number of titles worth reading. Many of these strike just about the right level of interest, without being too heavy. Ideal holiday reading in other words. Here is the definitive ZDNet Top Ten Computer Books Of All Time. Most of these titles are available to order online from the Internet Book Shop. Where a title was not available at the IBS, we've given a link to the US equivalent, Amazon.com. If you purchase through Amazon you will need to pay an international mail order fee.

If you're looking for book not to buy, then you'll be interested in this review of Po Bronson's The First $20 Million Is Always The Hardest, by Rupert Goodwins.

1: Soul of A New Machine
by Tracy Kidder
The ultimate fly on the wall account of the development of a new computer. The machine (Data General's Eclipse) was obsolete years ago, but Kidder's book is as fresh and relevant as ever. Top of ZDNet's list, and a must read for anyone who loves computers.
Paperback
Published by: Avon Books
Publication date: July 1995. (This revised edition)
ISBN: 038071115X
Price: $10.00
Available from amazon.com, also in UK bookshops

2: Microserfs
by Douglas Coupland
Fictionalised account of life in the fast lane of a huge computer software company. Who could Coupland possibly be thinking of? Emerging as the 'Soul of a New Machine' for software.
Paperback
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication date: June 1, 1996. (Reprint Edition)
ISBN: 0060987049
Price: £5.99
Available from the Internet Book Shop, also in UK bookshops

3: Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date
by Robert X. Cringely
The book of the TV series, Revenge of the Nerds. Tells the story of the early days of the PC industry. The rise and fall of Apple, the rise and rise of Microsoft, and the famous Xerox Parc where, arguably, modern computing was invented.
Paperback
Published by: Harperbusiness
Publication date: 1996
ISBN: 0887308554
Price: £8.99
Available from the Internet Book Shop, and also published in the UK by Penguin and available in UK bookshops

4: Nettravel: How Travellers Use the Internet
by Michael Shapiro
Written in diary style, an absorbing account of how ordinary people have used the net to plan their holidays. The 225 page paperback comes with a CD of Internet software.
Paperback
Published by: O'Reilly & Associates
Publication date: April 1997 (This revised edition)
ISBN: 1565921720
Price: $19.96
Available from amazon.com, also in UK bookshops

5: Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway
by Clifford Stoll
Intelligent, critical assessment of the Internet that correctly observes that dry land is sometimes hard to spot in a sea of hype.
Paperback
Published by: Anchor Books
Publication date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0385419945
Price: £5.99
Available from the Internet Book Shop, also in UK bookshops

6: Being Digital
by Nicholas Negroponte, Marty Asher (Editor)
Collection of his brilliant 'back page' essays from Wired magazine, revised and re-edited for this edition.
Paperback
Published by: Vintage Books
Publication date: January 1, 1996
ISBN: 0679762906
Price: £6.99
Available from the Internet Book Shop, also in UK bookshops

7: Only the Paranoid Survive: How To Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company and Career
by Andrew Grove
The man credited with turning Intel around, gives his account of how Intel was transformed from a lacklustre memory manufacturer, into a world beating processor manufacturer
Clothbound
Published by: Bantam Doubleday
Publication date: October 1, 1996
ISBN: 0385482582
Price: £20.00
Available from the Internet Book Shop, also in UK bookshops

8: Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
by Steve McConnel
If you are going to read just one book about programming, make sure it is this one.
Paperback
Published by: Microsoft
Publication date: May 1, 1993
ISBN: 1556154844
Price: £29.95
Available from the Internet Book Shop, also in UK bookshops

9: The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier
by Bruce Sterling
Fantastic account of the rise of the hacking scene and the American authorities attempts to beat the problem. Not too technical and very well written.
Paperback
Published by: Bantam Books
Publication date: December 1, 1993
ISBN: 055356370X
Price: £8.99
Available from the Internet Book Shop, also in UK bookshops

10: Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgement to Calculation
by Joseph Weizenbaum
Why can't computers hope, and will they ever be able to? Definitive discussion of artificial intelligence.
Paperback
Published by: W H Freeman & Co
Publication date: March 1976
ISBN: 0716704633
Price: £14.95
Available from the Internet Book Shop, also in UK bookshops

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