Every new technology or language version brings with it a raft of books; there are, however, a few timeless classics that every serious software engineer should be familiar with.

These books are not just ones that you will read once, but that you will want to keep on your desk, reference frequently, and re-read year after year.

The list below should be short enough for everyone to own and read. Many are shorter books and partly deserve their classic status because they make their points clearly, without waffle.

If you aren't sure where to start, try Peopleware, The Mythical Man-Month, Design Patterns, The Pragmatic Programmer, and Refactoring, and then move on to the longer books.

Start filling your library — order a book you don't own, read it, and then come back and order the next until you have every one of them.

See some of the books we have read and recommend on management, design and programming.