What's In Your Dead-Tree-Format Library?

Whilst cleaning and reorganising my home office, I came to the realisation that I have accumulated quite a decent amount of books on the various topics in my trade & hobby, software engineering.  After placing my various titles properly in groups on the shelves, I took a photo and it is shown below.  What follows is a breakdown on each book, my thoughts and the source of how it was attained (where remembered/applicable).  Note: Not included are three books currently in transit via Amazon.  One is on ajax, and two are FreeBSD server administration related.

Top shelf first, going left to right:

The Linux Database Bible :: This was a $50.00 book received as a freebie when I attended Linuxworld 2002 at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC.  I can't say that I've used this book much for anything other than the occasional reading fodder when nothing else was within reach.  I'm sure it would be of more use to newbies to both Linux and databases, even now.

Python Essential Reference, 2nd Edition :: I picked this up back in 2003 whilst doing work for a financial company at which I was both senior developer as well as newly appointed (reluctant) CTO.  This is a David Beazley book, and I highly recommend any version of it (there are several newer than my copy) as he is clearly full of expert level knowledge on all things Pythonic.

Python Cookbook :: This was another 2003 or 2004 purchase mainly out of curiosity to see what crafty, yet elegant solutions other Pythonistas has designed and/or implemented.  Definitely a wealth of information on a multitude of topics be it recursively traversing b trees or working with simple CSV files.

Python Pocket Reference :: A simple reference mostly useful for the "batteries included" libraries.

Python Programming Patterns :: This book has shown me why we generally don't rely heavily upon patterns such as those overly used in Java software.  I purchased this along with the Python Cookbook, and quite frankly if I had only acquired this book, my disappointment would have be far greater as I would've had nothing to take my mind off of it.

Perl to Python Migration :: Picked this up at the Micro Center in St. Davids, PA in the early 2000's when I started to migrate some of our perl applications over to Python in the financial world.  Highly recommended, especially for heavy, long-term perl hackers.

Pro Django :: Picked this up in early 2009 as further reference and idea material for the 4 websites I write and maintain for a series of internationally published magazines.  I'm torn on the value of this book, but at least it goes beyond beginner level.

The Definitive Guide to Django, 1st Edition :: Purchased as a reference as soon as it came out, references version .96 of the framework, so if a person is using v1.xx or higher, there are going to be quite a few caveats in the examples, otherwise a wonderful reference, especially when it comes to the appendices.

Practical Django Projects :: A bit of a disappointment as it focuses on blog creation for which a series of examples of this ilk already can be found online for free, not to mention in the Pinax project.

PHP and MySQL Web Development :: I just received this book from a business partner and whist I generally avoid PHP like the plague, I am glad to have references which are a bit more current these days for when I do need to venture into such environments.

Setting up LAMP :: Same as above.

PHP Solutions :: Ditto for this book as well.

Pro Drupal Development :: ibid on this one too.   I don't think I'll ever end up using Drupal, but at least I have a reference if I ever need tit.

Programming PHP :: I inherited this from the previous CTO at the financial firm at which I worked back in 2002/2003 and it has served me well as a reference book.

PHP Pocket Reference :: This also was provided to me with the Programming PHP book.

Programming Ruby, 1st Edition :: The Pick Axe book as it is more fondly referenced by Rubyists.  I picked this book up in 2007 so as to further my own understanding of perl's successor.  I was, in fact, reading it early this evening, though I still find it considerably less useful professionally for me than Python and other solutions.

Programmers at Work, 1st Edition :: This was left to me by a business associate from Ecquire prior to relocated elsewhere.  It is the predecessor of "Coder's at Work", and contains some early Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Xerox and HP developers and views on the industry.

HTML 3 :: Truth be told, this was bequeathed to me by the surviving relatives of my ex-wife when her younger brother died in an untimely manner.  It is rather outdated, though kept solely as a remembrance of a young life that had potential in several areas of his life.

The Pragmatic Programmer :: I might not like a lot of the most recently branched out Pragmatic series be it books or podcasts, but this book is gold in my eyes.  I made this a company purchased, required reading for all developers from Junior to Senior level everywhere I've worked.  It most recently was recommended to an Intern I mentored during the 2009 summer season.  It has also proven valuable to other associates, even those not directly involved in the Software Engineering field(s).

OOP Demystified :: I purchased this book as a means of helping to teach others the basics of Object Oriented Programming.  It is a rather basic book, and uses the transitional OOP examples cases of registering for a class and doing payroll, like umpteen other books on the topic.

Middle shelf second, again from left to right:

Open Source Development with CVS :: Picked this book up on an departmental outing back in 2000 when moving into the Lead Developer role at a Manufacturing company which didnt have an existing source control system in place, and it wasn't yet time to use Subversion and the company was too cheap to acquire Perforce licensing.

Practical C Programming :: Every developer has at least one reference book for C, many have more.  I'm not a big C guy myself, though I find this O'Reilly reference book a wonderful additional to any library, maybe short of the K&R tome.

Teach Yourself C++ :: This book by Al Stevens was something I'd picked up as the desire to torture myself with C++ a.k.a. Bjarne's plague upon the coding world.  I sooner should've picked up a book on Smalltalk or Objective-C.  Note, the book is written well, my comments are mainly aimed at the abomination which is C++.

Learning Java :: I didn't buy this book as a Java reference in as much as I did for its first four chapters, which by and far the single best example laden object oriented chapters of any book, bar none.  Oh, and they are quite humorous as well.

Head First Java :: When recently wanting to get back into the Java world a bit more than in the past (with my playful experimenting), this was ordered on the recommendation of a good long term friend of mine, himself a Senior Software Engineer focused heavily in Java environments.

Java in a Nutshell :: Standard fare O'Reilly reference book, though drier than others and while laid out clearly, something felt amiss.

Core Java :: Sun's own sanctioned Java tome.  Massive, and packed full of information (and for the price is had to be).  Heavy examples on applets and AWT, which as of this writing is a decade out of date.  Makes a great bookend due to its size.

Java2 : A Beginner's Guide :: Probably one of the nicest Java2 introductory manuals.  This one has been loaned out to newbies to Java more than any other Java book in my library.  Clearly written and never dull.

Javascript, The Missing Manual :: Recently purchased and while full of information spends too much effort on jQuery, so much to the point that the book might've been more aptly named "jQuery", and subtitled "with a chapter or two on non-jQuery javascript".

Linux Programming :: Also bequeathed by my ex-wife's famliy.

Linux in 10 Minutes :: ibid.  See above.

Turbo Pascal, 3rd Edition :: Pascal, while originally a teaching language is also an imperative, procedural language good for systems programming much like C and only slighly slower.  Having moved to Pascal from various versions of Basic and ML, I was happy to take this off of my wife's friend after he completed his Pascal course at university.  The section on algorithms is still one which I reference routinely, hence the reason isn't packed away in a box.

Perl 5 Programmer's Reference :: A $4.99 special at a Banes & Noble in Abington, PA back in 2001.  Only covered version 5.004 of perl, but was so well laid out that it beat anything that O'Reilly could muster for perl references.  Quite possibly out of circulation/print as of this article's writing.

Learning Perl Object, References and Modules :: Essential reading for any non-purely functional code to get written when subjected to perl environments.

Programming with CGI.pm :: Nothing says well engineered than written by an engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratories.

Programming the Perl DBI :: Anyone doing anything with databases in perl,  will benfit from this thin yes most definitely useful book.

Perl Best Practices  :: I pick this up after reviewing another copy at an Internet Hosting firm for which I did someork..

Object Oriented Perl :: Damien Conway's opus for Perl and Object Orientation.  Explains limitations and information for making robust Django.

Practical PostgreSQL :: Acquired when the original plans for some of my publishers dontnet

Bottom shelf lastly, contains my spoken language reference library which contains books on:

Dutch, French, Japanese, Welsh, German, Korean, Russian and Spanish.  The majority being in Dutch including several novels and grammer books, followed in a distant second by Welsh grammar books (mostly picked up in Waterstones in London surprisingly), then in a close third, Japanese.  I like languages and I do not limit myself to simply one or two.  Anyone who follows looks at the list of people whom I follow on twitter will easily see all of the above languages utilised, sans Welsh (quick, somebody contact Alan Cox!).

Bonus:  Some of my die-cast cars including my highly favoured Peugeot 206 WRC model that I picked up for £2.99 at Hamley's in London back in '03.  I collect the occasional model car here and there, mainly German, French, English and Italian based, but that is fodder for another blog.