Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (affectionally called "S.I.C.P." by computer scientists) was the first book used in my own undergraduate studies, and I have since purchased the second edition, which adds new material. It teaches the essence of computer science in a series of chapters about different kinds of abstractions while pretending to teach the reader programming in the programming language Scheme, a variant of LISP. This book is a purcase for life, and you should cherish it, work it through end-to-end, and revisit it a few years later when you will have more experience, because the latter chapters are quite demanding. It's okay - you don't have to absorb everything on the first reading, and the first couple of chapters are very easy-going and insightful. After a few hours, the reader (best in front of a computer running a Scheme interpreter - there are many free ones) will be capable of developing non-trivial programs. Didactically speaking, this is simply the best computer science text book that I have ever read, and likely, that I will ever read - a must-own book!