Reddit mentions of Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing (3rd Edition)

Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing. A light read on the essentials of computer science. Didn't really get the hang of algorithms until after I read this book.

Maybe this one: Algorithmics - The Spirit of Computing

A good conceptual overview of Computer Science
>The best selling 'Algorithmics' presents the most important, concepts, methods and results that are fundamental to the science of computing. It starts by introducing the basic ideas of algorithms, including their structures and methods of data manipulation. It then goes on to demonstrate how to design accurate and efficient algorithms, and discusses their inherent limitations. As the author himself says in the preface to the book; 'This book attempts to present a readable account of some of the most important and basic topics of computer science, stressing the fundamental and robust nature of the science in a form that is virtually independent of the details of specific computers, languages and formalisms'.

This book was handed to me by my data structures and algorithms professor at CMU back in the day and it was really inspirational -- and totally accessible.

In addition to those listed in other comments, I highly recommend Algorithmics, by David Harel. I have the second edition (linked), but there is a third edition that I assume is equally good.

It largely depends on which Computer Science degree you are going to do. There can be some that focus heavily on software and very little on hardware and some that get a nice balance between the two. If the degree is going to focus on hardware I would recommend reading up on the underlying logic of a computer and then reading this book (Inside the machine). ITM isn't a very technical book(I would label it as the computer science equivalent of popular science) but it gives a nice clear overview of the what happens in a processor.

When it comes to programming, I would recommend starting with Java and Eclipse. Java gets quite a bit of hate but for a newcomer, I think Java would be easier to grasp than the likes of C/C++. C/C++ are nice languages but a newcomer may find their error messages a little bit obscure and may get confused with the nitty-gritty nuances of the languages.

Though the one thing you should realise is that programming is a skill that isn't confined to one language. If you understand the basic concepts of recursion, arrays, classes, generics/templates, inheritance, etc. you can apply this knowledge to almost any language. Ideally i would recomend two books on programming (Algorithmics) and (Introduction to Algorithms). Algorithmics is another books I would label as the cs equivalent to popular science but the early chapters give a nice overview of exactly what algorithms actually are. Introduction to Algorithms is a more technical book that I would recommend to someone once they know how to program and want a deeper understanding of algorithms.

The rest is personal preference, personally I prefer to use a Unix machine with Sublime Text 2 and the command line. Some will try to convince you to use Vim or Emacs but you should just find whichever you are most comfortable with.

I'm kind of in the same position as you, OP. Thinking of getting CLRS, New Turing Omnibus, The Elements of Computing Systems, and Algorithmics!

So excited.

Not sure what you mean by CS background, but depending on the book, you may need more books to understand that one.

For introduction to computers and programming I recommend David Harel and some people really dig Jon Bentley. There's probably a ton of other recommendations out there, but ultimately they all lead to the bible :)

So yea, getting some background on programming may be necessary, but not too difficult. I mean, if a highschooler/college freshman can do it, so can anyone, right?