If you could go back in time and tell yourself to read a specific book at the beginning of your career as a developer, which book would it be?
I expect this list to be varied and to cover a wide range of things.
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I think that "The Art of Unix Programming" is an excellent book, by an excellent hacker/brilliant mind as Eric S. Raymond, who tries to make us understand a few principles of software design (simplicity mainly). This book is a must for every programming who is about to start a project under Unix platform.
Code Craft by Pete Goodliffe is a good read!
Code Craft http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WZ9AEC3GL._SL500_BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg
Programming from the ground up. It's free on the internet. This book taught me AT&T asm. It is very easy to read.
The practice of programming. By Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike.
The style shown here is excellent - the code just speaks for itself, and the whole book follows the KISS principle. Personally not my languages of choice, but still influential to me.
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Database System Concepts is one of the best books you can read on understanding good database design principles.