XP .. Explained ... by Kent Beck.
This book is undoubtedly a classic. One of the neatly ordered book I have read in a while. It presents to a novice planner on becoming more productive. However, if you are a novice who has just stepped into the world of programming...then maybe this is not the right time for you to read this book. Maybe after 2 years, once you are comfortable in makind informed sensible decisions, this book becomes a MUST READ.
Any manager, senior developer or anybody who leads a bunch of programmers...yes...a MUST READ.
As much as this book advises on what to do and what not to do for XP....towards the end, it gets a bit too cautious. The author tends to playing it safe by telling that XP is not for everyone. Though, I admit to the fact that he is not trying to say anywhere that XP is THE WAY...but he does not reinforce that XP is a nice way very often.
The book contains many words of wisdom...and as you read through it gives you the opportunity to review yourself as a programmer. The book describes programmer attitudes and smart people working in a team following XP. While the author tells what a good programmer practicing XP should do, he also points out to the plain facts...as to what programmers in the initial stages of XP do...
Though not directly related to code, the author describes a few practices while developing code, that can be followed even when one is not coding "XP-STYLE"
This book is certainly a classic....but as a word of caution...do not read the whole book if you have just begun to program. The wait is really worth the philosophy the book preaches.