Classic Reference Books

In My Humble Opinion
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In many fields there are a few books (or only one) that are simply the best-known (or even the best) general reference for that field. Just about everyone with some knowledge or interest will have heard of it, most would consider owning or having access to a copy a requisite for study of the subject. They are often so venerated and recognizable that only initials or a single name is used to refer to them. Few would find it odd if you wrote ‘OED’ in a sentence without explanation, and most would agree that a word not found there was likely never an English word.

Not every classic reference is as well-respected, and in some fields the material is growing old, even though the book will still be known and recommended. We’re talking well-known, not necessarily well-liked. So opinions are welcome, of course. And this is open to any subject, no matter how obscure you think it might be – if it has a reference well-known in those circles, let’s hear it.

(I’m sure this has been done before, but all my searches crashed out today.)

I’ll give a few examples I can think of for now:

The C Programming Language, Brian Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie
a.k.a “Kernighan & Ritchie” or “K & R”.

Not just the best book on C, but the best computer programming book ever. Slimmer and shorter than most computer programming books, but tells you exactly what you need to do it right. By two of the people who wrote the language itself.
The Sunset Western Garden Book, Sunset Magazine

For the region west of the Continental Divide in the lower 48, and California especially, covers the basics of gardening and a detailed guide to each plant species.

Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, Don Graydon (& Kurt Hanson), ed.
a.k.a. “Freedom of the Hills”, “FOTH”

A collection of contributions from specialists in each field, this is a complete guidebook for all aspects of mountaing climbing, covering equipment, techniques, and safety on rock, ice, and snow.

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The Summa Theologica - St. John Aquinas. All you’ve ever wanted to know about Christianity and Catholicism.

Gray’s Anatomy - Heh, seems like an obvious one

Working in horticulture, I can tell you the Bible of the industry is Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Accept no substitutes :smiley:

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IMHO
Military - Art of War in the Western World by Archer Jones
Irish History - A history of Ireland by E. Curtis

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Samuel E Morrison’s History of WWII

Jane’s Fighting Ships and other Jane’s military publications

Principia Mathematica(sp?) – who did this?

Robert’s Rules of Order

The Prince

The Origin of the Species

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Journalism: The AP Style Book. In most newsrooms it is so all powerful, it is just called “the Bible”. (AP stands for Associated Press, but you probably already knew that).

When I was starting in the business at the Denver Post, there was even a copy in the bathroom that the reporters used. It was the only publication (other than the Post) that was allowed in there. When we were not working on a story in the newsroom, the news editor and a copy editor or two would quiz us from the stupid thing (usually from memory).

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This many posts and no one’s mentioned the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physicsw? It’s the closest thing in the Real World to the Junior Woodchuck Manual!

Old-timers called it the “CRC Bible”, and before the 40th edition or so it looked like a Bible. After that it got Ponderously large, like th copy I got as an undergrad. But it’s got your conversion factors, common integral formulas (assuming you commonly perform integral calculus), the physical constants, data on every compound, organic and inorganic, permittivities, specific gravities, indices of refraction, daa on the planets and their satellites, persistent spectral lines, biographies of the elements, and more.
In the past twenty years or so a lot of mutant “CRC Guides” on all sorts o other subjects have come out (CRC Guide to Food Science, CRC Guide to Hazardous Chemicals, CRC Guide to Laser Technology), but there’s only One True CRC Handbook.

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Joy of Cooking

Joys of Yiddish

Joy of Sex

– CH

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For pilots, “From the Ground Up” is a standard ground school text.

For SCUBA Divers, “The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving”.

Halliday and Resnick is a standard freshman physics text, or at least used to be…

“Human Action” by Ludwig Von Mises is a standard text for Libertarians and Austrian School Economists.

“The Road To Serfdom” by F.A. Hayek is a fundamental political tract for Libertarians.

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Newton wrote one way back when, and then Russell and Whitehead did another one at the beginning of the 20th century.

As far as algorithms texts go, I believe that Cormen, Lieserson, and Rivest is pretty much a classic.

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What Color Is Your Parachute, the primary job-hunter’s bible. Which ironically was written by someone who himself only landed a couple of jobs in his life, but the first big one was helping priests find work in other fields, as a sort of ouplacement councellor.

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Wow…I have four of the works mentioned so far: Gray’s Anatomy, The Origin of Species, a Halliday & Resnick physics text, and a CRC (1st Student Edition).

My contributions:
Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution - Robert L. Carroll (1988)

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs - Dr. Peter Wellnhofer (1991)

Predatory Dinosaurs of the World - Gregory S. Paul (1988)

The Dinosauria - Edited by David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson & Halszka Osmolska (1990)

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For writers: Strunk and White, The Elements of Style.

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I’m surprised no one’s mentioned:

The Elements of Style, William Strunk, Jr, & E. B. White, 1918, 1959, usw. Practically a bible for non-professional writing. Saw masonite’s post while in preview–props.

Much lesser known:

A First Course in Real Analysis, M. H. Protter and C. B. Morrey, 1977. [Note: While not the best text I used in undergrad or grad studies, this seemed the most “universal.” Looking at it many years later, it also seems the most beat-up and dogeared. Either it was a better reference than I remember, or it took me forever to figure out RA (I think it was the former, but that could be my ego). I’m curious if anyone else used it, and if so, what they thought of it]

Combat Leader’s Field Guide (11th ed), CSM James J. Gallagher, USA (Ret), 1994.

The next two got me through grad school. The first made sure I never bought my own booze, and the second allowed me the zen-like tranquility to finish my thesis on time.

Scarne on Cards (rev), John Scarne, 1965.

The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes. Bill Watterson, 1990.

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yojimboguy,
Principia Mathematica was Newton I believe.

What about the Oxford English Dictionary?

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I find James Trager’s “People’s Chronology” very useful for world history—also makes for interesting browsing while you’re pretending to listen to someone on the phone.

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Oh, and for good recipes, I enjoy “Beard on Food.”

For etiquette and grooming tips, I turn to “Food on Beard.”

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Bullfinch’s Mythology - very useful in figuring out those obscure Greek references in anything written before the turn of the last century. Plain good reading all by itself too!

The Bluebook - you attorneys know what I’m talking about.

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The World Almanac
The Statistical Abstract of the United States
Total Baseball
Thomas Brothers Map Guide to Los Angeles County

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Bergey’s Manual of Bacteriology

Goodman & Gilman (pharmacotherapeutics), just referred to as
“Goodman & Gilman”

Facts & Comparisons (Drug F&C, updated monthly)

I’ll second Gray’s Anatomy

Gibbon’s Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire

I’ll think of more when I’m less tired

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Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature.

And I just couldn’t get through the day without my Oxford Etymological Dictionary. (OK, that’s an exaggeration… but it’s still a handy thing to have.)