10 Books for the Self-Taught Computer Scientist

Books that I used to teach myself computer science curriculum

You may find yourself wanting to learn the formal concepts of computer science. However, you soon realize that finding ways to learn these topics is rather difficult. Online resources can be both expensive and variable with what they expect you to know. Most resources assume you have the mathematical prerequisites mastered, or expect that you have an academic background in STEM. It is difficult to find a starting point that feels conquerable for those outside of the field of science. This is precisely how I felt.

I created this list of books and ordered them in such a way that reading them would feel achievable. What is here is not only the foundation of the discipline, but these books touch on the core course content of computer science. That core content being: Computer Architecture & Organization, Data Structures & Algorithms, and Computational Theory.

Anyone can learn to program without diving into academic computer science material. Though, if you are genuinely interested and want to invest time and energy to learn these topics, you will be rewarded by your efforts. This is a life-long journey. These books are merely the beginning.

Computer Science Distilled