Here are some of my most favourite books I have read during the last 12 months. I can
recommend them to everybody who shares my field of interest!

Technology:

Roger Penrose: The Emperors New Mind
A very interesting reading on the question, whether machines will ever be able
to adapt human thinking. Nothing for a relaxed evening reading, but a real remarkable book!

Douglas R. Hofstadter: Goedel, Escher, Bach
A classic reading around the logic of Goedels mathematics, Eschers magical drawings
and the maths in Bachs music.

Jerry Kaplan: Start Up
Have you ever dreamed to go to Silicon valley and start up your won company?
Read this before you buy your ticket - then you might see what is happening when things go really wrong!

History of Technology:

Michael Riordan: Crystal Fire
If you are a silicon designer dealing with dozens of millions of transistors on
a chip, this book gives you a nice and readable insight about the invention
of the crystal itself - it is amazing, how much coincidence was involved...

History of World War II

G.P. Zachery: Endless Frontier
A nice biography of Vannevar Bush, the man who organized the  tremendous american
research effort during the second world war.

Thomas Powers: Heisenbergs War
Did the germans try to build an atomic bomb of their own? This book explains
the Dilemma of Germanys first class physicist during the war years.

Richard Rhodes: The making of the atomic bomb.
One of the best and most comprehensive reports on the gigantic effort
to build the first atomic bomb.

Alexander Stahlberg: Die verdammte Pflicht (in german language)
A real impressive biography on the opposition against Hitler among the
german general staff officers.

Space exploration

Hans Barth: Hermann Oberth (in german language)
A biography of one of the early pioneers of rockets - a remarkable man and a great book!

Andrew Chaikin: A man on the moon.
My most favorite book on the american space program of the sixties.

Ronald Florence: The perfect machine
Until to some years ago, the gigantic 6m mirror of the Mt. Palomar telescope was
the largest in the world. The book describes the more than 30 years lasting construction of
this astounding astronomical instrument.

Others:

Jon Krakauer: Into thin Air
A must for every mountaineer. A remarkable and very personal description of the Mt. Everest
Expedition of 1996, which claimed 8 lives in a horrible storm.

Scott Adams: The Dilbert Principle
The big survival guide for the endless hours in my cubicle...