I started Steven Levy's Hackers and I'm really enjoying it. http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/books/hackers

Seeing as he wrote Crypto and Insanely Great too, it seems to be his kind of thing.

Also folklore.org is a nice collection of fables on how the sausage got made.

Charles Petzold's Code is interspersed with enjoyable historical perspective too.

http://www.charlespetzold.com/code/