Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

Algorithms to Live By is the book that made me see computer science everywhere. Christian and Griffiths explain algorithms through everyday decisions: when to stop looking for a parking space (optimal stopping), how to organize your closet (caching), when to explore vs. exploit (multi-armed bandits). The chapter on caching helped me understand why our database queries were slow, and the section on scheduling gave me insights into why some task queues work better than others. The book is accessible—you don't need a CS degree to understand it—but it's also useful for developers who want to see algorithms applied to real problems. My only critique is that some chapters feel like they're stretching to find everyday applications, but the best ones are genuinely insightful. I've recommended it to developers who want to understand algorithms without getting lost in mathematical notation, and it's helped them see the concepts in a new light. Not essential, but surprisingly useful.