Books for a Software Engineering Graduate

One of my nephews graduated with a degree in Software Engineering this Spring. I've been thinking of passing down some avuncular wisdom on the profession in the form on some books.

Possible titles I've thought about are:


The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt, David Thomas


Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn


Design Patterns by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides


Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, Don Roberts



It's certainly very early in his career and I don't know what direction the winds will take him, so general books I think are better than targeted ones. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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