[Pollux]

Basically just what the thread title says...what books would you recommend to someone who is interested in a particular area of study? What books do you consider "required reading" for a certain area? Hopefully this thread can take off, if it does I'll keep the OP updated and will organize the books by category and put links to amazon so people who are interested can look into purchasing them. I'll put the categories, and then the books within the categories in alphabetical order so it'll make it easier for people to jump to topics they're interested in.

This could also potentially turn into a discussion thread where people can discuss the ideas that were discussed in the book they just read with others who are familiar with the topic.

This could be a good way for people who have always had a curiosity about a subject, but never really knew where to start, to finally take the jump.

If the book you're recommending fits in a category but could also be in a subcategory, post both when you recommend the book. E.G. There's the category of "Literature" but there are many different subcategories of literature -- Southern American Literature Post-Civil War, British Literature, African-American Literature, etc. Or There's the category of Philosophy and within the field of Philosophy there are different "schools of thought", When you post the book mention which school of though (sub-category) it would belong under.


ANTHROPOLOGY

• **The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal. - Jared Diamond -- (Recommended by AAequal)

ARCHAEOLOGY

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

ART AND DESIGN

Art

• **The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence - Betty Edwards -- (Recommended by antiwhippy)

Design

• **Cradle to Radle: Remaking the Way We Make Things - Michael Braungart -- (Recommended by travisbickle)
  **Design as Art - Bruno Munari -- (Recommended by travisbickle)
  **Experimental Layout (Design Fundamentals) - Ian Noble (Visual Design) -- (Recommended by travisbickle)
  **Picture Perfect: Fusions of Illustration & Design - Ian Noble (Visual Design) -- (Recommended by travisbickle)
  ** Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design - Kritina Holden and William Lidwell -- (Recommended by travisbickle)
  **Visual Research (2nd ed.): An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design - Ian Noble (Visual Design) -- (Recommended by travisbickle)
  ** Ways of Seeing - John Berger -- (Recommended by travisbickle)

ASTRONOMY

• **A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking -- (Recommended by Zebra)
  **Cosmos - Carl Sagan -- (Recommended by Zebra)

BIOLOGY

Evolutionary Biology

• **Adaptation and Natural Selection. - George C. Williams -- (Recommended by AAequal)
  **Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo - Sean Carroll -- (Recommended by AAequal)
  **The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution - Sean Carroll -- (Recommended by AAequal)
  **The Origin of Species - Charles Darwin -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)
  **The Selfish Gene. - Richard Dawkins -- (Recommended by AAequal)

Cell Biology

• **Micrographia - Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon - Robert Hooke -- (Recommended by WeeBey)

CHEMISTRY

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

CLASSICAL STUDIES

Ancient Greek Literature

• **Poetics - Aristotle -- (Recommended by I Push Fat Kids)

Ancient Greek Philosophy

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

Roman History

• **The Annals of Imperial Rome - Tacitus -- (Recommended by zmoney)
  **The Twelve Caesars - Suetonius -- (Recommended by zmoney)

Roman Philosophy

• **De Oratore (About the Orator) - Cicero -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)
  **De Rerum Natura (About the Nature of Things) - Lucretius -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)
  **On Benefits (Philanthropy) - Lucius Seneca -- (Recommended by Mumei)

COMMUNICATIONS

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

• **The Art of Computer Programming - Donald Knuth -- (Recommended by WeeBey)

CULTURAL STUDIES

Middle Eastern

• **The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years - Bernard Lewis -- (Recommended by zmoney)
  **Orientalism - Edward Said -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)

EARTH SCIENCES

• **Craig's Soil Mechanics - R.F. Craig -- (Recommended by matt404au)

ECONOMICS

• **Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy - Warren Mosler -- (Recommended by empty vessel (free copy of book in his recommendation))

ENGINEERING

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENT

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

HISTORY

English History

• **The Ends of Life: Roads to Fulfillment in Early Modern England - Keith Thomas -- (Recommended by Salazar)

Historiography

• **The Idea of History - R. G. Collingwood -- (Recommended by udllpn)
  **What Is History? - Edward Hallet Carr -- (Recommended by udllpn)

Intellectual History

• **Bread and Circuses: Historical Sociology and Political Pluralism - Paul Veyne -- (Recommended by Mumei)
  **Flesh in the Age of Reason: The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul - Roy Porter -- (Recommended by Salazar)
  **A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society - Mary Poovey -- (Recommended by Salazar)
  **The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes: Second Edition - Professor Jonathan Rose -- (Recommended by Salazar)
  **Largesse (Parti Pris (Reunion Des Musees Nationaux (France)).) (Philanthropy) - Jean Starobinski -- (Recommended by Mumei)

World History

• **Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition. - Jared Diamond -- (Recommended by AAequal)
  **Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies - Jared Diamond -- (Recommended by Kabouter)
  **The Lessons of History - Will Durant -- (Recommended by ZackieChan)

[Pollux]

HISTORY OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND FOREIGN POLICY

Theory

• **Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis - Kenneth Z. Waltz -- Recommended by zmoney
  **On War - Carl von Clausewitz -- Recommended by zmoney

History

• **The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century - Immanuel Wallerstein -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)
  **The Modern World-System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600-1750 - Immanuel Wallerstein -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)
  **The Modern World-System III: The Second Era of Great Expansion of the Capitalist World-Economy, 1730s-1840s - Immanuel Wallerstein -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)
  **The Modern World-System IV: Centrist Liberalism Triumphant, 1789-1914 - Immanuel Wallerstein -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)

LINGUISTICS

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

LAW/LEGAL STUDIES

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

LITERATURE

Criticism/Theory

• **The Force of Poetry - Christopher Ricks -- (Recommended by Salazar)
  **The Geography of the Imagination - Guy Davenport -- (Recommended by Salazar)
  **A Grammar of Motives - Kenneth Burke -- (Recommended by Salazar)
  **Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method - Kenneth Burke -- (Recommended by Salazar)
  **Seven Types of Ambiguity - William Empson -- (Recommended by Salazar)

English Literature

• **Paradise Lost - John Milton -- (Recommended by Thatoneguy)

Russian Literature

• **The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)

MATH AND STATISTICS

• **A Course Of Pure Mathematics (1921) - G.H. Hardy -- (Recommended by WeeBey)
  **A Mathematician's Apology - G.H. Hardy -- (Recommended by WeeBey)
  **Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy - Isaac Newton -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)

Calculus

• **Calculus - Michael Spivack -- (Recommended by WeeBey)
  **Calculus, Vol. 1: One-Variable Calculus, with an Introduction to Linear Algebra - Tom Apostol -- (Recommended by WeeBey)
  **Calculus, Vol. 2: Multi-Variable Calculus and Linear Algebra with Applications to Differential Equations and Probability - Tom Apostol -- (Recommended by WeeBey)
  **Introduction to Calculus and Analysis, Vol. 1 - Richard Courant and Fritz John -- (Recommended by WeeBey)
  **Introduction to Calculus and Analysis, Vol. II - Richard Courant and Fritz John -- (Recommended by WeeBey)

MUSIC

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

PHILOSOPHY

• **The Rights of Man - Thomas Paine -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)
  **A Treatise of Human Nature - David Hume -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)

PHYSICS

• **Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican - Galileo Galilei -- (Recommended by WeeBey)
  **The Feynman Lectures on Physics: The New Millennium Edition - Richard P. Feynman -- (Recommended by IGotBillySoSpooked)
  **Relativity: The Special and General Theory - Albert Einstein -- (Recommended by WeeBey)

POLITICAL SCIENCE

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

PSYCHOLOGY

• **The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil - Philip Zimbardo -- Recommended by zmoney

RELIGION

General Analysis

• **A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam - Karen Armstrong -- (Recommended by MuseManMike)

Christianity

• **City of God - St. Augustine -- Recommended by zmoney

Taoism

• **The Tao is Silent - Raymond M. Smullyan -- Recommended by zmoney

SOCIOLOGY

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

WOMEN, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

WRITING

• **Will update section as titles are posted.

[Kabouter]

I'd say Guns, Germs and Steel is pretty much required reading for history, even if I don't fully agree with its explanations all the time. Very interesting book.

[Zebra]

I would imagine that Cosmos by Carl Sagan and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking deserve spots under Astronomy.

[Antiwhippy]

Could you put in an art and design area?

I'd say for now Drawing on the right side of the brain as the go to essential.

[Stat Flow]

Fuck. Subscribed!

I have nothing to offer. That's why I'm subscribing. :(

[travisbickle]

Design theory:


Design as Art - Bruno Munari
Ways of Seeing - John Berger
Universal Principles of Design - can't remember
Anything by Ian Noble (visual design)

Design:

Cradle to Cradle - Michael Braungart
I don't know where I'm going but I want to be there
The Art of Looking Sideways - Alan Fletcher


From the top of my head

[empty vessel]

Economics: Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy

But it's (legally) free here: http://moslereconomics.com/wp-conten...oints/7DIF.pdf

A textbook by Bill Mitchell and Randall Wray (not the above author) is forthcoming that I suspect I will also be recommending.

[ZackieChan]

History: The Lessons of History by Will Durant

Great little overview of history. Everything else I read was basically either a textbook or a super-niche bit of history. However, reading some of Bart Ehrman's stuff about Jesus/the Bible will give you a good look at how to evaluate "truth" through historical documents. Good reading.

[Pollux]

Updated, and there are two new categories:
1. Art and Design
2. Women, Gender, and Sexuality

And I'm going to bed. Will update the OP some more tomorrow.

[Thatoneguy]

Literature: Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Literally every professor I've ever had references Paradise Lost when talking about the text we are actually studying.

[worldrevolution]

I'd say Guns, Germs and Steel is pretty much required reading for history, even if I don't fully agree with its explanations all the time. Very interesting book.

This is so weird. I found this book left behind in a house I moved into into Japan like a decade ago and over the years slowly read it. I figured it was just a very random/unique outlook and that literally no one ever even heard of this book. Just last year I realized it's quite a respected book and seeing it recommended here just confirms that. A mini-mind blown for me. But, yes, it is a VERY interesting book.

[Curtisaur]

Literature: Paradise Lost by John Milton. Literally every professor I've ever had references Paradise Lost when talking about the text we are actually studying.

Fuck every professor you've ever had.

[MuseManMike]

International Relations:
Works by Wallerstein

Literature:
Works by Dostoevsky

Religion:
A History of God by Armstrong

Politics:
The Rights of Man by Paine

Classical Studies (where do you draw the philosophical divide?):
De Oratore by Cicero
De rerum natura by Lucretius

Philosophy:
A Treatise of Human Nature by Hume

Biology:
The Origin of Species by Darwin

Cultural Studies:
Orientalism - Edward Said

Math/Physics:
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Newton

Edit: You are missing fields like Communications, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies.
Edit: I wouldn't necessarily say Foucault has a cornerstone text that revolutionized an entire academic field, but something by Foucault (Madness and Civilization) should be on this list.

[Antiwhippy]

So any designers out there who know of any good grid layout books?

I have Making and Braking the Grid which gives a nice gallery and analysis on various gird layouts but it seems very basic.

[Salazar]

Literary criticism/theory

Kenneth Burke: A Grammar of Motives + Language as Symbolic Action
Frank Kermode: The Sense of an Ending + Shakespeare's Language
William Empson: Seven Types of Ambiguity+ Some Versions of Pastoral.
Guy Davenport: The Geography of the Imagination
Christopher Ricks: The Force of Poetry

Intellectual History - largely early modern in concern and scope.

Mary Poovey: A History of the Modern Fact
Anne Goldgar: Impolite Learning
Keith Thomas: The Ends of Life
Roy Porter: Flesh in the Age of Reason
Jonathan Rose: The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Difficult to fasten the label 'essential' onto works of highly disparate scholarship, but these should markedly and positively influence anybody who reads them closely.

Edit: I agree wholeheartedly with the Lucretius mention.

[Mumei]

Something I suppose not many people will bring up:

Philanthropy:

On Benefits, Seneca
Largesse (Parti Pris (Reunion Des Musees Nationaux (France)).), Jan Starobinski
Bread and Circuses: Historical Sociology and Political Pluralism, Paul Veyne

[matt404au]

Earth Sciences - Craig's Soil Mechanics by R. F. Craig.

Throughout uni this book made probably the toughest of the civil engineering streams passable. Most civil engineers I've met know of the book and also speak highly of it.

[AAequal]

I'd say Guns, Germs and Steel is pretty much required reading for history, even if I don't fully agree with its explanations all the time. Very interesting book.

Have to agree with you there. From the same author comes Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition. I think it's equally interesting book to read. History

The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal. This book deals with both human evolution and anthropology but I would place it in the latter category. anthropology

The Selfish Gene. People might not like Dawkins but before his crusade against religion he wrote great popular science books and The Selfish Gene is probably his best work. Good popular science book that talks lot about Gene-centered view of evolution and it coined the term meme. evolutionary biology

Adaptation and Natural Selection. It's bit more advanced then your typical popular science book but I guess that's not a problem? Evolution

Two great books by Sean B. Carroll. Evolutionary Biology
Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo
The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution

[MuseManMike]

Literary criticism/theory Kenneth Burke: A Grammar of Motives + Language as Symbolic Action Frank Kermode: The Sense of an Ending + Shakespeare's Language William Empson: Seven Types of Ambiguity+ Some Versions of Pastoral. Guy Davenport: The Geography of the Imagination Christopher Ricks: The Force of Poetry Intellectual History - largely early modern in concern and scope. Mary Poovey: A History of the Modern Fact Ann Goldgar: Impolite Learning Keith Thomas: The Ends of Life Roy Porter: Flesh in the Age of Reason Difficult to fasten the label 'essential' onto works of highly disparate scholarship, but these should markedly and positively influence anybody who reads them closely. Edit: I agree wholeheartedly with the Lucretius mention.

The fact that you know who Kenneth Burke is makes me all tingly inside. Rhetoric never gets the due it deserves.

[I Push Fat Kids]

Literature: Poetics Aristotle
Film: Story Robert Mckee

[Cyan]

Man. Great thread idea, but it already feels like people are casting too wide a net. I can barely think of any books I consider absolute required reading, let alone whole lists of them in a single subject.

[Zebra]

Edit: I agree wholeheartedly with the Lucretius mention.

I was just coming back into this thread to mention Lucretius. I'm glad to see that he's well covered.

[Vaporak]

This seems like a cool thread, I hope it takes off! Unfortunately I can't really recommend anything from my own area of study, Mathematics. It's not the kind of field that you actually read the historically important works themselves, and I really have never read a book on mathematics that I considered well written and approachable for anyone really.

[WeeBey]

Biology:

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (subfield: evolutionary biology)
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (subfield: evolutionary biology)
Micrographia by Robert Hooke (subfield: cell biology)


Math:

A Course of Pure Mathematics by G.H. Hardy
Elements by Euclid (sub-field: history/geometry)
A Mathematician's Apology by G.H. Hardy (subfield: philosophy)
Calculus by Michael Spivak (subfield: Calculus)
Calculus, Vol 1 by Tom M. Apostol (subfield: Calculus)
Calculus, Vol. 2 by Tom M. Apostol (subfield: Calculus)
Introduction to Calculus and Analysis, Vol. I by Richard Courant and Fritz John (subfield: Calculus)
Introduction to Calculus and Analysis, Vol. II by Richard Courant and Fritz John (subfield: Calculus)

(FYI: Not only are those 5 calculus books classic but if you master all of them, you will master Calculus)

Math & Physics:

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) by Isaac Newton (subfield: newtonian physics/history/calculus)

Physics:

Relativity by Einstein (subfield: relativity)
Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems) by Galileo Galilei (subfield: history/astronomy)

Computer Science:

The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth (subfield: algorithms)

[IGotBillySoSpooked]

Neat idea.

Physics: The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman.

[I Push Fat Kids]

This should be a community thread once it gets enough responses.


Almost think that more than one thread needs to be made in order to split up the topics. With such breadth, this thread could get overwhelming.

[udllpn]

I'm going to start recommending two classic Historiography (methodology of History and how it has been written since antiquity) books:

- The idea of History by R. G. Collingwood (1936).
- What is History? by E. H. Carr (1961).

Those are basic reads that anyone starting studying History should take a look at.

[MuseManMike]

I'm going to start recommending two classic Historiography (methodology of History and how it has been written since antiquity) books: - The idea of History by R. G. Collingwood (1936). - What is History? by E. H. Carr (1961). Those are basic reads that anyone starting studying History should take a look at.

The Twenty Years' Crisis is probably another good one by Carr. Which reminds me of another!

(Tough to categorize):
History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

[Phantast2k]

Congrats on the thread. I hope you're not just trying to generate referrals on Amazon, lol
- The Wealth of Nations (Smith - it is almost entirely outdated, but still worth a look)
Then there's more or less: Keynes(-ism) vs. Friedman (Monetarism) vs. Austrian School (I guess)...if you want to go deeper /derper..

Some light, yet insightful reading on economics (not textbooks):
- This Time is Different (Rogoff - it may be a bit too academic) - crises: rinse, repeat
- Against the Gods (Bernstein) - history of the statistics/risk management...which is closely intertwined with economics and I guess civilization overall.
- Exorbitant Privilege (Eichengreen) - monetary policy, history of the Dollar

More in the realm of "INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND FOREIGN POLICY":
- The Bottom Billion (Collier) - outlines the problems of the poorest countries, in particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa

Political science / Political philosophy:
- The Communist Manifesto (Marx, Engels - know it before yo condemn it)
- Leviathan (Hobbes)
- Two Treatises of Government (Locke)

Maybe there should be an extension of this thread which includes good (freshman) textbooks and seminal papers on a particular topic.

[eiskaltnz]

Software Engineering/Computer Science
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays o
nSoftwarengineering by Fred Brooks

It has a large project management focus but is mostly about software engineering. Though the book is old (especially in such a fast moving field) I feel as if it is required reading for anyone who wants to manage a software development team, and recommended for anyone in the field.

[AAequal]

Went through some of my popular science books and these are the ones that really stand out for reason or other and I think they belong in the required category.

Designing the Molecular World by Philip Ball chemistry

The book is not intended as an introduction to chemistry, but as an accessible survey of recent developments throughout many of the major fields allied with chemistry: from research in traditional areas such as crystallography and spectroscopy to entirely new fields of study such as molecular electronics, artificial enzymes, and "smart" polymer gels. Ball's grand tour along the leading edge of scientific discovery will appeal to all curious readers, with or without any scientific training, to chemistry students looking for future careers, and to practicing chemical researchers looking for information on other specialties within their discipline.

Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century by Philip Ball chemistry / Material science

This book is written in the same engaging manner as Ball's popular book on chemistry, Designing the Molecular World, and it links insights from chemistry, biology, and physics with those from engineering as it outlines the various areas in which new materials will transform our lives in the twenty-first century. The chapters provide vignettes from a broad range of selected areas of materials science and can be read as separate essays. The subjects include photonic materials, materials for information storage, smart materials, biomaterials, biomedical materials, materials for clean energy, porous materials, diamond and hard materials, new polymers, and surfaces and interfaces.

Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain Psychology

Five chapters in the book's first part, "Some Elementary Neuroscience," sketch the history of the science of nervous systems and provide a general introduction to neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and neuropsychology. In the second part, "Recent Developments in the Philosophy of Science," chapters place the mind-body problem within the wider context of the philosophy of science. Drawing on recent research in this area, a general account of intertheoretic reduction is explained, arguments for a reductionist strategy are developed, and traditional objections from dualists and other anti reductionists are answered in novel ways. The third part, "A Neurophilosophical Perspective," concludes the book with a presentation and discussion of some of the most promising theoretical developments currently under exploration in functional neurobiology and in the connectionist models within artificial intelligence research.

Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and Life by Richard A. L. Jones Quantum physics / Nanotechnology

Soft Machines explains in a lively and very accessible manner why the nanoworld is so different to the macro-world which we are all familiar with. Why does nature engineer things in the way it does, and how can we learn to use these unfamiliar principles to create valuable new materials and artefacts which will have a profound effect on medicine, electronics, energy and the environment in the twenty-first century. With a firmer understanding of the likely relationship between nanotechnology and nature itself, we can gain a much clearer notion of what dangers this powerful technology may potentially pose, as well as come to realize that nanotechnology will have more in common with biology than with conventional engineering.

Symmetry by Hermann Weyl philosphy of science

Dr. Weyl presents a masterful and fascinating survey of the applications of the principle of symmetry in sculpture, painting, architecture, ornament, and design; its manifestations in organic and inorganic nature; and its philosophical and mathematical significance.

The Theory Of Groups And Quantum Mechanics by Hermann Weyl Physics

This landmark among mathematics texts applies group theory to quantum mechanics, first covering unitary geometry, quantum theory, groups and their representations, then applications themselves — rotation, Lorentz, permutation groups, symmetric permutation groups, and the algebra of symmetric transformations.

Space, Time, Matter by Hermann Weyl Physics

A classic of physics ... the first systematic presentation of Einstein's theory of relativity." — British Journal for Philosophy and Science. Long one of the standard texts in the field, this excellent introduction probes deeply into Euclidean space, Riemann's space, Einstein's general relativity, gravitational waves and energy, and laws of conservation.

The Concept of a Riemann Surface by by Hermann Weyl Maths

This classic on the general history of functions was written by one of the 20th century's best-known mathematicians. Weyl combined function theory and geometry in this high-level landmark work, forming a new branch of mathematics and the basis of the modern approach to analysis, geometry, and topology.

[WeeBey]

History:

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer (subfield: Nazi Germany)

Biology:

The Double Helix by James Watson (subfield: history)
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (subfield: history/cancer)

Literature:

Maus by Art Spiegelman (subfield: autobiography)
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (subfield: autobiography)

[EnderWiggles]

It's a pretty specific category, but:

Chemical Engineering
Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering by Fogler
- Fundamentals and some advanced topics for chemical reactor design (reactor sizing, energy balances, kinetic modeling, etc.)
Transport Phenomena by Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot
- Momentum, heat, and mass transfer (essentially the underlying physics that forms the foundation for all other chemical engineering "unit operations"). Probably the closest thing to a "bible" in engineering (the book is usually referred to as "BSL" for the authors' last names)

This book may not belong on your list as "required reading" but it's one of those indespensible books a chemical engineer would constantly refer to, especially for the chemical property tables and such:
Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook (also known as "Perry's")

[WARCOCK]

For Math Analysis:

Principles of Mathematical Analysis, Third Edition [Hardcover]
Walter Rudin

Neuroscience:
Principles of neuroscience, Kandel

[DrFurbs]

For psychology UGs and MSc students this is a must read. Andy Fields writes in a very in formal manner and explains topics in serious depth using analogies etc. He is the 2007 winner of British Psychological Societies book awards.

Discovering-Statistics-Introducing-Statistical-Methods

Reviews:

"The mathematics behind the tests is always given in considerable detail. This is admirable and helps students to see the logics behind the tests...I like the exploration of the various options for the tests he discusses, and the discussions of the pros and cons of specific variants of tests' - Nurse Researcher (David C. Howell )

"It is definitely the best written stats book I've seen. I found myself reading through it like a novel, just because I found it interesting. In addition, I like that it is well-integrated with the SPSS information, and I think the students will really appreciate it, too." (Kimberly Dasch )

[jchap]

A Treatise on Electricity & Magnetism by James Maxwell should be up there as one of the most influential

[Bruiserk]

Philosophy:

Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes

History:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

[ClassyPenguin]

linguistics:
The World's Major Languages

History:
History and Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Biology:
On the Origin Of Species

The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins

Literature:
Utopia by Thomas Moore

Oration on the Dignity of Man

Areopagitica

The New Atlantis


The Prince

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Crime and Punishment

The Old Man and the Sea

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy

The Riverside Shakespeare

Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

Economics:
Lords of Finance

[Eric Walton]

Philosophy (yes, Phil):

Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud.


edit: and I'll throw in a vote for A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (for contemporary literature/memoir, not necessarily "Literature" on the whole)

[Draconian]

Philosophy

The Republic by Plato

Literature (Subfield: American)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

[Jackson50]

The Twenty Years' Crisis is probably another good one by Carr. Which reminds me of another! (Tough to categorize): History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

The history subcategory under IR seems apt. Aside from being an enthralling text, its influence on the development of realist theory is monumental.

Also, regarding political science, Downs's An Economic Theory of Democracy is paramount. It easily had the greatest effect on the discipline's conceptualization of voter behavior.

[Eric Walton]

Political Philosophy:

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
On Representative Government by John Stuart Mill

Linguistics/Etymology:

Going Nucular by Geoffry Numberg

[19 & 21]

Philosophy - The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

European History:

Eric Hobsbawm's "The Age of" series.

[JiuJitsuka]

Sherwood's Human Physiology is definitely a must if you're into Medicine.

[tborsje]

International Relations (theory):
Samuel P. Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations
Francis Fukuyama: The End of History and the Last Man

Both books present quite different and conflicting theories regarding the future of international relations, and are probably the most modern manifestations of the 'idealist vs realist' debate in the study.

[Kabouter]

European History: Eric Hobsbawm's "The Age of" series.

Yes I agree. I would also suggest Tony Judt's Postwar, incredible book on post-war Europe, possibly my favourite book of all-time.

[zoku88]

For Computer Science: Patterson and Hennesey is pretty important.

If you want to lump Quantum Computation under CS (which it could be, or math): Quantum Computation and Quantum Information by Nielsen and Chuang seems to be widely used.

For whatever section you posted Annals in, A History of Rome by Livy would be nice, too.

[close to the edge]

Computer science:
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (Russell, Norvig): The only AI book I own but it's very accessible while also being quite in-depth. It also covers pretty much every area of AI imaginable. Not just a great AI book but also a great book for CS in general.
The C Programming Language (Kerningham, Ritchie): Book on C by the makers of the language. Of course, if you don't like C, you won't enjoy this book, but as far as books on C go, this is a great one.