# Classic Reference Books

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-reference-books/98962>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 19, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-reference-books/98962 "2002-03-19T00:32:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-reference-books/98962/21 "2002-03-20T14:21:23Z")

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_The Art of Computer Programming_ by Donald Knuth.

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**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-reference-books/98962/22 "2002-03-20T16:17:42Z")

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Roget’s Thesaurus  
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotation  
Black’s Law Dictionary  
Peterson’s Field Guide to Birds

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**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-reference-books/98962/23 "2002-03-20T17:36:19Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by plnnr \*  
> \*\*Roget’s Thesaurus  
> \*\*

As long as it’s the _International_ (now in 6th edition), which follows Roget’s original plan. The alphabetical thesaurii do more harm than good, IMO, since they don’t offer the same precision of the two-step Roget procedure.

And for cooking, i’d add:

**The Oxford Companion to Food**  
**Joy of Cooking** (Rombauer’s 1975 edition _only_, not the committee-written abomination her greedy, lazy son recently presided over)

One other I love, although it’s rapidly becoming outdated since its 1995 publication, is

**The Enclycopedia of New York City**. Incomparable, enormous, fascinating.

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**Author:** ![keeper0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@keeper0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeper0)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-reference-books/98962/24 "2002-03-20T18:35:59Z")

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Machinery’s Handbook

Don’t leave home without it. Or at least don’t leave for the machine shop or send a request to the machine shop without it.

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