🥇Alan Kay recommends reading old and forgotten, but important books on programming

Alan Kay is the Yoda for IT professionals. He was at the forefront of creating the first personal computer (Xerox Alto), the SmallTalk language, and the concept of ‘object-oriented programming’. He has often expressed his views on education in the field of Computer Science and recommended books for those who wish to deepen their knowledge:

Alan Kay: hoe ik Computer Science 101 zou onderwijzen
Alan Kay: “What books would you recommend for someone studying Computer Science?”
Alan Kay (and the collective intelligence of Habr): what books shape the thinking of a true engineer
Alan Kay and Marvin Minsky: Computer Science already has a ‘grammar’. What’s needed is ‘literature’

Recently on Quora this topic came up again and the discussion reached the top spot on Hacker News. I present to your attention a ‘new’ list of super old and fundamental books on programming and the mindset of programmers from Alan Kay.

Lisp 1.5 Programmers Manual

by John McCarthy, 1962

This book is an absolute champion and a lifelong leader of all lists of books from Alan Kay. This version of the language is no longer available, but the book is magnificent.

eight more rarities:

Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines

by Marvin Minsky, 1967

Marvin Minsky 'Computation and Automata' (rus, djvu).

Advances in Programming and Non-Numerical Computation

ed. L. Fox, 1966

The Mythical Man-Month

by Fred Brooks, 1975

The Mythical Man-Month (PDF, 171 pages)

The Sciences of the Artificial

by Herb Simon

The Sciences of the Artificial (PDF, 241 pages)

The book by Herbert Simon (Turing Award and Nobel Prize winner) in Russian (djvu).

Herbert Simon did not read newspapers or watch television because he believed that if something really important happened, someone would definitely tell him about it, so he shouldn't waste time on the media.
— KB van Fortinet