Background reading

This webpage lists the School of Computer Science Library's collection of books which are useful for background reading on some of the subject areas covered on our degree programmes

The School of Computer Science Library also has multiple copies of all the books which currently appear on the School's reading lists (for COMP units only).

The Borrowing webpage has more information about loan periods and limits.

For help, enquiries and advice about our services and resources, please come in and speak to a member of Student Support Office staff, or email SSO.

[Page last updated: 11/07/2019]

Collection of Computer Science books which are useful for background reading (in alphabetical order by last name of author):

ALLCOTT, Graham. "How to be a knowledge ninja: study smarter, focus better, achieve more"
ISBN: 9781848318168
Publisher: Icon Books (2015)
2 copies in stock
BARABASI, Albert-Laszlo. "Bursts: the hidden patterns behind everything we do, from your e-mail to bloody Crusades"
ISBN: 9780452297180
Publisher: Plume (Penguin) (2011)
2 copies in stock
BARABASI, Albert-Laszlo. "Linked: how everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science and everyday life"
ISBN: 9780465085736
Publisher: Basic Books (2014)
1 copy in stock
BARRAT, James. "Our final invention: Artificial Intelligence and the end of the human era"
ISBN: 9781250058782
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin (2015)
2 copies in stock
BODEN, Margaret. "AI: its nature and future"
ISBN: 9780198777984
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2016)
2 copies in stock

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BOSTROM, Nick. "Superintelligence: paths, dangers, strategies"
ISBN: 9780198739838
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2016)
2 copies in stock
BUTCHER, Paul. "Debug it! Find, repair and prevent bugs in your code"
ISBN: 9781934356289
Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf (2009)
2 copies in stock
CALDARELLI, Guido and Michele CATANZARO. "Networks: a very short introduction"
ISBN: 9780199588077
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2012)
2 copies in stock
CAWTHORNE, Nigel. "Alan Turing: the Enigma man"
ISBN: 9781784045357
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing (2014)
2 copies in stock
CHEN, Zhiyuan and Bing LIU. "Lifelong machine learning"
ISBN: 9781627055017
Publisher: Morgan and Claypool (2016)
2 copies in stock

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CHRISTIAN, Brian and Tom GRIFFIN. "Algorithms to live by: the Computer Science of human decisions"
ISBN: 9780008166090
Publisher: Collins (2016)
2 copies in stock
COOPER, Barry S. and Jan VAN LEEUWEN (eds.). "Alan Turing: his work and impact"
ISBN: 9780123869807
Publisher: Elsevier (2013)
1 copy in stock
COPELAND, B. Jack (ed.). "Essential Turing: the ideas that gave birth to the computer age"
ISBN: 9780198250807
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2004)
2 copies in stock
COPELAND, Jack. "Turing: pioneer of the information age"
ISBN: 9780198719182
Publisher: Oxford University Publishing (2014)
2 copies in stock
DHANJANI, Nitesh. "Abusing the Internet of Things: blackouts, freakouts and stakeouts"
ISBN: 9781491902332
Publisher: O'Reilly Media (2015)
2 copies in stock

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DOMINGOS, Pedro. "Master algorithm: how the quest for the ultimate learning machine will remake our world"
ISBN: 9780241004548
Publisher: Allen Lane (2015)
2 copies in stock
DYSON, George. "Turing's cathedral: the origins of the digital universe"
ISBN: 9780141015903
Publisher: Penguin (2012)
2 copies in stock
FLORIDI, Luciano. "Information: a very short introduction"
ISBN: 9780199551378
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2010)
2 copies in stock
FORD, Martin. "Architects of intelligence: the truth about AI from the people building it"
ISBN: 9781789131512
Publisher: Packt.com (2018)
2 copies in stock
FORSYTH, David. "Probability and statistics for Computer Science"
ISBN: 9783319644097
Publisher: Springer (2018)
2 copies in stock

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FRIEDLAND, Gerald and Ramesh JAIN. "Multimedia computing"
ISBN: 9780521764513
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (2014)
1 copy in stock
GREENGARD, Samuel. "Internet of Things"
ISBN: 9780262527736
Publisher: MIT Press (2015)
2 copies in stock
GRIBBIN, John. "Computing with quantum cats: from Alan Turing to teleportation"
ISBN: 9780552779319
Publisher: Black Swan (2015)
2 copies in stock
GROSS, Benedikt et al. "Generative design: visualize, program and create with JavaScript in p5.js"
ISBN: 9781616897581
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press (2018)
2 copies in stock
HALIM, Steven and Felix HALIM. "Competitive programming 3: the new lower bound of programming contests"
ISBN: 5800095810646
Publisher: Lulu.com (2013)
2 copies in stock

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HAMMERMAN, Robin and Andrew L. RUSSELL. "Ada's legacy: cultures of computing from the Victorian to the digital age"
ISBN: 9781970001488
Publisher: ACM/Morgan & Claypool (2016)
2 copies in stock
HODGES, Andrew. "Alan Turing: the enigma"
ISBN: 9781784700089
Publisher: Vintage (2014)
2 copies in stock
KELLMEREIT, Daniel and Daniel OBODOVSKI. "Silent intelligence: the Internet of Things"
ISBN: 9780989973700
Publisher: DND Ventures (2013)
2 copies in stock
KELLY, Alonzo. "Mobile robotics: mathematics, models and methods"
ISBN: 9781107031159
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (2013)
1 copy in stock
KERNIGHAN, Brian W. "Understanding the digital world: what you need to know about computers, the internet, privacy and security"
ISBN: 9780691176543
Publisher: Princeton University Press (2017)
2 copies in stock

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LAAKMANN McDOWELL, Gayle. "Cracking the coding interview: 189 programming questions and solutions" (6th edition)
ISBN: 9780984782857
Publisher: Career Cup (2015)
6 copies in stock: 15 copies of previous edition (2011) also available
LAAKMANN McDOWELL, Gayle. "Cracking the tech career: insider advice on landing a job at Google, Microsoft, Apple, or any top tech company"
ISBN: 9781118968086
Publisher: Wiley (2014)
5 copies in stock
LAAKMANN McDOWELL, Gayle and Jackie BAVARO. "Cracking the PM interview: how to land a project manager job in technology"
ISBN: 9780984782819
Publisher: Career Cup (2013)
5 copies in stock
LAVINGTON, Simon (ed.). "Alan Turing and his contemporaries: building the world's first computers"
ISBN: 9781906124908
Publisher: BCS (2012)
2 copies in stock
LEAVITT, David. "Man who knew too much: Alan Turing and the invention of the computer"
ISBN: 9780753822005
Publisher: Phoenix (2006)
2 copies in stock

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McEWEN, Adrian and Hakim CASSIMALLY. "Designing the Internet of Things"
ISBN: 9781118430620
Publisher: Wiley (2014)
2 copies in stock
MORET-BORILLO, Vicente. "Adventures in Computer Science: from classical bits to quantum bits"
ISBN: 978331964806
Publisher: Springer (2017)
2 copies in stock
NEVILLE, Colin. "Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism"
ISBN: 9780335220892
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2007)
1 copy in stock
OXFORD Quick Reference. "Oxford Dictionary of Computer Science" (7th edition)
ISBN: 9780199688975
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2016)
2 copies in stock *REFERENCE ITEM: may only be used at SSO
PADUA, Sydney. "Thrilling adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: the (mostly) true story of the first computer"
ISBN: 9780141981536
Publisher: Penguin (2016)
2 copies in stock

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PEARL, Judea and Dana MAZCKENZIE. "Book of why: the new science of cause and effect"
ISBN: 9780141982410
Publisher: Penguin (2019)
2 copies in stock
PEARS, Richard and Graham SHIELDS. "Cite them right: the essential referencing guide" (8th edition)
ISBN: 9780230272316
Publisher: Palgrave (2010)
1 copy in stock
PETZOLD, Charles. "Annotated Turing: a guided tour through Alan Turing's historic paper on computability and the Turing Machine"
ISBN: 9780470229057
Publisher: Wiley (2008)
2 copies in stock
PHILLIPS, Estelle M. and Derek S. PUGH. "How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors" (5th edition)
ISBN: 9780335242023
Publisher: McGraw-Hill (2010)
3 copies in stock
RAJAGOPALAN, A.N. and Rama CHELLAPPA (eds.). "Motion deblurring: algorithms and systems"
ISBN: 9781107044364
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (2014)
1 copy in stock

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REAS, Casey and Ben FRY. "Processing: a programming handbook for visual designers and artists" (2nd edition)
ISBN: 9780262028288
Publisher: MIT Press (2014)
2 copies in stock
ROBINSON, Andrew and Mike COOK. "Raspberry Pi projects"
ISBN: 9781118555439
Publisher: Wiley (2013)
3 copies in stock
ROWNTREE, Derek. "Statistics without tears: an introduction for non-mathematicians"
ISBN: 9780140136326
Publisher: Penguin (2000)
2 copies in stock
RUSSELL, Brian and Drew van DUREN. "Practical Internet of Things security"
ISBN: 9781785889639
Publisher: Packt Publishing (2016)
2 copies in stock
SEELY, John. "Oxford A-Z of grammar and punctuation"
ISBN: 9780199564675
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2009)
1 copy in stock *REFERENCE ITEM: may only be used at SSO

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SILVER, Nate. "Signal and the noise: the art and science of prediction"
ISBN: 9780141975658
Publisher: Penguin (2013)
2 copies in stock
SONI, Jimmy and Rob GOODMAN. "Mind at play: how Claude Shannon invented the Information Age"
ISBN: 9781476766690
Publisher: SImon & Schuster (2017)
2 copies in stock
STIGLER, Stephen M. "Seven pillars of statistical wisdom"
ISBN: 9780674088917
Publisher: Harvard University Press (2016)
2 copies in stock
ZOBEL, Justin. "Writing for Computer Science" (3rd edition)
ISBN: 9781447166382
Publisher: Springer (2014)
2 copies in stock

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