Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture was a revelation for me. Not that I went on and directly applied the knowledge in that book for the most part (largely due to the fact I've never been a Java developer), but the thinking behind the book really helped me go from "hack shit together" to a thoughtful and disciplined programmer.
So of these books are oldish (for software engineering) and I don't count that against them. But I would like to know for each what more recent books (or even blogs) would succinctly fill in gaps in development since their publication.
Anyone?
These books are pretty timeless. They are not "learn X in 12 hours", but they are about concepts and ideas that will make you a better programmer, regardless of the specifics of your job. They are timeless, for the most part. The one exception might be "Refactoring". While it's true that the concepts it discusses is not unique to Java, a more recent edition just came out that focusses on javascript instead.
Nice list. Thanks for posting. I'm a sucker for a good list of book recommendations.