This is my book list that I made for my personal reference and then decided to publish here because of so many people asked me to give them some of its parts.
This below are some of the books that I went through in the past. There’s different stuff from different points of my interest, sorted by those interests.
Table of Contents
.. about NETWORKING
Routing TCP/IP, Volume 1 (2nd Edition)
– This one together with the next one are considered as networking bible which will lead you through most of the topics that you need to know in today’s networking environments.
Routing TCP/IP, Volume II: CCIE Professional Development: CCIE Professional Development: 2
– Second part of networking bible
CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide Library (5th Edition)
– While learning for CCIE and constantly after that, this book is a nice reference for all Cisco technologies that you probably use every day. I was going through 4th edition in my early CCIE learning phase but I think that 5th edition is even better and written in a way that is more simple for my way of thinking. Narbik wrote this one.
LAN Switch Security: What Hackers Know About Your Switches
Network Warrior: Everything You Need to Know That Wasn’t on the CCNA Exam
– The first two books are always mentioned when there is a CCIE reading list. This one is a book that I use the most and I think that every networking engineer should start with this one right after CCNA certification.
CCIE Routing and Switching v5.1 Foundations: Bridging the Gap Between CCNP and CCIE (Practical Studies)
– This was fun for me.
Internet Routing Architectures (2nd Edition)
– Going in deep of routing protocols, this book will get all the details you will probably ever need about routing protocols EIGRP, OSPF and BGP
NETWORKING DESIGN & CONSULTING
CCDE Study Guide (Quick Reference)
– After CCIE, this was the book that I used to get to know different network architectures. Get rid of the “clouds” in your network topology, get basic knowledge about Internet, ISP, WAN, LAN, Datacenter and all together in reasonably simple words.
Optimal Routing Design (Networking Technology)
– Going through CCDE preparations this will be one of the first to show up.
Top-Down Network Design (3rd Edition)
– And this one as the second
The Art of Network Architecture: Business-Driven Design – Russ White writes about network design and complexity from a philosopher viewpoint taking into account all the topics typical engineer will forget to include into calculations.
Using TRILL, FabricPath, and VXLAN: Designing Massively Scalable Data Centers (MSDC) with Overlays – Overview of Overlays with today’s preferred VXLANs inside.
.. not about NETWORKING
I sorted the books for each topic in order which I would follow if I went through them again.
QUANTUM COMPUTING:
Feynman Lectures On Computation – Never enough of Feynman on my list. This particular book is not all about quantum computing but it has a great chapter about it and few other chapters that are good as an introduction to those new sorts of computers.
Hidden In Plain Sight 10: How To Program A Quantum Computer – It’s short and fun one but it will not teach you how to program a quantum computer. On the other side, it will help you start to think right if you want to understand how those quantum computer algorithms are working.
Quantum Computing for Everyone – It’s a good book about quantum computing which describes vectors and their use in quantum algorithm creation. It was too much for me at first so I gave up and got to read those few books above.
QUANTUM MECHANICS AND PHYSICS IN GENERAL:
Quantum Strangeness: Wrestling with Bell’s Theorem and the Ultimate Nature of Reality – Author’s insight into guantum world and the way it should be look at if you want to try and understand the strange way it works. It’s fairily good book to take to the beach to
Quantum Space: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Search for the Structure of Space, Time, and the Universe – It explains how and why Loop Quantum Gravity seems to be the most promising way of describing spacetime and how gravity actually fits in it.
Gravity: A Ladybird Expert Book – Shortest book ever, tells a little about what is gravity
We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe – This one is so fun. Great writers write about physics and the world and comparisons used are to die from laughing
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
– A bit of physics before you go deep into quantum stuff from the most fun Physics professor ever.
Light: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
– It is about light in simple words
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton Science Library)
– Richard Feynman again, describing in simple way his Quantum electrodynamics theory which describes how light and matter interact. It is the first theory where quantum mechanics and special relativity were connected to create first successful quantum field theory. He received a Nobel for it in 1965.
Quantum: A Guide For The Perplexed by Al-Khalili, Jim (2012)
– Everything in the book above seems impossible. This book will try to get you through those confusing parts with a lot of images and diagrams.
The Greatest Story Ever Told–So Far: Why Are We Here?
– This one is showing you how the world works from inside out. It is talking about the same thing as two books above but in a different style. It goes deep inside elementary quantum particles to show from what we are made and why we are all radioactive materia which is decaying completely every 10 minutes. Maybe not the first one to read if you are new to subatomic particles. Check the books above for some more introduction
I like books from James Gleick so I read them all, and they are all great except the last one about Time Travel:
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
– Most interesting Physics persona ever. If you go through my list you will find that there are more books about him and his way of thinking and solving problems.
Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything
– From James Gleick about time and why everything goes so fast these days.
Isaac Newton
– About Newton in a very interesting way
Time Travel: A History
– This one is more about history of SF than real investigative journalism found in all other James’ books
CHAOS THEORY:
Fractals: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
– Fractals and their usage to visualise processes from Chaos Theory.
INFORMATION THEORY:
An Introduction to Information Theory: Symbols, Signals and Noise (Dover Books on Mathematics)
The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
GRAPH THEORY:
Networks: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
– It is about overall network theory so it is not to be placed above in networking part.
Graph Theory and Complex Networks: An Introduction
– Graph Theory more focused on Computer Science part of this theory use.
Introductory Graph Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics)
– Old one about Graph Theory.
Introduction to Graph Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics)
– New edition of the book above.
A First Course in Graph Theory (Dover Books on Mathematics)
– Student-friendly introduction to graph theory, for students who do not like beer I guess.
SOME OTHER TOPICS LIKE CYBER SECURITY AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
– It’s a good and extensive historical and technical intro to cryptography from beginning to the quantum crypto stuff. Everything basically except the stuff in the book below 😉
Post-Quantum Cryptography
– Everything that still didn’t happen in cryptography.
What Do You Think About Machines That Think?: Today’s Leading Thinkers on the Age of Machine Intelligence
– A collection of answers to question about future of Artificial Intelligence given to Edge.org by some of the most interesting minds on the planet today. Don’t need to read them all, just keep skipping to those that you like at start.
Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know
– Cyber Security for beginners.
It’s Not Rocket Science
– Whey a guy decides to drop from his PhD to start a career as a comedian this is what you get. Take it to the beach it is a lot of fun.
The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters