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What are some of Alon Amit’s favorite math books? Thank you, people who seem to care. I'm happy to try and answer this question, though I don't expect my mathematical tastes to necessarily be aligned with anyone else's.  I previously recommended a few books here: What are some must-read books for aspiring mathematicians?, and some of these are indeed among my favorites. But here I'd like to list different ones. The books I'll describe aren't necessarily “must-reads”, but are personally meaningful to me.  And actually, what the hell, yes: I hereby decree that they are must-reads.  D. E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming  It is pointless for me to extol the virtues of this profound series of books. I'll just say that they changed my life, in more than one way. I have them in very old editions, purchased and eventually given to me by my father. If I give my own children something half as meaningful as these books were to me, my time on this planet will have been valuable.  Torkel Franzén, Gödel’s Theorem: an incomplete guide to its use and abuse  Much of what I know about mathematical logic I learned from this man, whose untimely death saddened me more than I'd have believed possible.  Boolos, Burgess and Jeffrey: Computability and Logic  Franzén’s book isn't a textbook. This one is, and is one of the best I know in its field.  Joseph Rotman, an Introduction to the Theory of Groups  Nothing flashy or special, just an excellent, excellent textbook.  Lang, Algebra  I have some mixed feelings here. I don't much like Lang’s style, to be honest. But this book is like an old, good friend: a little annoying or boring or maddening sometimes, but invaluable.  A. Y. Khinchin, Three Pearls of Number Theory  They don't make people like Khinchin any more, and they don't write books like this any more. Instead of a Preface, the book begins with “A Letter to the Front”, starting thus:  “March 24, 1945  Dear Seryozha,  Your letter sent from the hospital gave me threefold pleasure. First of all, your request that I send you “some little mathematical pearls” showed that you are really getting well, and are not merely trying, as a brave fighter, to relieve your friends’ anxiety…”  Then, in a mere 54 pages, Khinchin presents, with historical context, three deep problems in number theory, and then walks the reader through their complete proofs, with no shortcuts or references to other work, in an eye-opening, fully motivated way.  I so wish there were more books like this one.  Daniel Marcus, Number Fields  Smallish, unassuming and horribly typeset, this is just a fantastic textbook. Not for beginners, but if you're ready for it you'll be well rewarded.  Frank Warner, Foundations of Differentiable Manifolds and Lie Groups  I’m so glad I am answering this question since it forced me to search my memory for that one book on differentiable manifolds that I really loved, and I found it. I don’t actually own it, an unforgivable oversight that is being remedied this very second.  Lee’s “Smooth Manifolds” is also good. Spivak is fine. Guillemin and Pollack’s “Differential Topology” has a different focus, and it’s fantastic. But something about Warner’s book really clicked for me. I believe this was the first time I really understood tensors. The chapter on cohomology is a masterpiece.  Saunders Mac Lane, Categories for the Working Mathematician  I still remember the exultation of being introduced to categories for the first time, with this book. Finally understanding the duality between one-to-one and onto maps, and the ingenious way they can be defined without any reference to elements. The sweeping generalizations of categorical limits, and the incredible ubiquity of derived functors. My master’s thesis was in this domain.