Tech Book: Algorithms in a Nutshell, Heineman, Pollice & Selkow

I really enjoyed reading this book, probably the best endorsement I can give for a technical book. The authors introduced the common computer science algorithms that you would expect in a good desktop reference, giving each a block of pseudo code, some analysis of algorithmic complexity and implementation trade-offs, and finally a proper implementation in a standard programming language (usually Java). The later chapters cover slightly more advanced techniques, typically with a practical example. My favourite was their randomised algorithm for estimating a solution to the famous “n-queens” problem (developed by Knuth in 1975).