Fave-reads: 5 must-read books for IT career growth

Network World - Let's face it -- when it comes to IT professional development, books might be the last place people turn. With webinars, online forums, blogs, Web sites, bootcamps and social media, books would seem like a last resort.

"Most of the information I'm getting is online, whether it's headlines through Twitter or pointers to insightful articles posted on a blog," agrees Doug Ross, CIO at Western Southern Financial Group in Cincinnati. "The most digestible content now is coming in the form of fairly short posts or YouTube videos."

Still, Ross says, every so often a seminal work comes along (Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital comes to mind) that is a must-read. We asked a handful of IT professionals in a variety of industries and job titles to name the books that have influenced their careers. Here is a wrapup of titles to read before the year ends or put on your New Year resolutions list for next year.