The Bible. It's the authorative presentation of the C++ language in its current form, according to the ANSI standard, including the standard library. I still have to be convinced that it should not be possible to learn C++ from this book. I did.

An absolute must.

There's also the Bjarne's homepage. Look also at his FAQ site and at his own site for "The C++ Programming Language" 

Read also the review in Dr. Dobbs's Journal.

It's a bit out of date, but used to define the standard C++ for a long time, and apparently contains a lot of useful in-depth coverage of the language. 

ftp site

Bjarne Stroustrup's site for this book.

Seems to be out of print.

This book gives a lot of insight about why C++ has been designed the way it is (which might be quite revealing to those who think that one should really use Smalltalk or - much more en vogue - Java), and at that time teaches you a lot about C++ in general and some of its subtleties in particular. 

Recommended for those who want to go a bit deeper into C++. 

There's also a site from Bjarne Stroustrup for this book. 

Read the ACCU review of this book, and the Dr. Dobb's Journal review.

Make sure you get the new, third edition!.

I got me thesecond edition, which is indeed a nice introduction to C++. A good buy if you find Stroustrup's book a bit too terse.

A very fine introduction to C++, with a special chapter for FORTRAN programmers. Contains some very good advice how to program in C++. 

The second part of the book demonstrates the use of templates for code reuse, and is praised by Scott Meyers to be one of the most advanced examples of template use. Though of 1994, it covers templates and exceptions, but some of the container classes presented are out-of-date, as there is now the STL. 

Highly recommended. 

Now here's a MUST for every serious C++ programmer. Written in a highly readable and amusing style, this book gives valuable advice how to use the myriards of C++ constructs in a meaningful way, and how to avoid a number of pitfalls. The book is devided into 50 'items', each of which can be summarized in a single sentenc, like: "Item 24: Choose carefully between function overloading and parameter defaulting."

(Very) good reasons are given for every one of these rules. Covers the latest (ANSI) definition of C++. 

Highly recommended. 

There's also a  CD that accompanies this book.

The sequel to "Effective C++" (though not as up-to-date, since it's still the first edition), but (unlike so many other sequels) as good as the first book. Probably a bit more advanced.

Highly recommended.

An excellent book, although much too long. The author covers issues that arise when one builds very large (hundreds of thousands or millions of lines of code) systems. For such systems, compile time and link time can be a serious issue. Much more important, however, is the issue of testing, which is thoroughly covered. Highly recommended.

My favorite overview over the STL and the C++ standard library in general.

A good overview over the STL, but I like the books by Austern and Josuttis better.

A very good introduction to the concepts and implementation methods of the STL.

Another one of the "more effective" books by Steve Myers.

Again highly recommended.

Scott Meyers refers to it as "the LSD book", because it's purple and it will expand your mind.

Read the Dr. Dobb's Journal review and the ACCU review.

Coplien's "idioms" were actually precursors of the famous "patterns".

The famous book of the "Gang of Four". I don't think you can claim to know something about OO if you do not know this book. You need it. Believe me.

There's also a CD to accompany this book.

A very interesting book (though a bit expensive).

A very influential book, meanwhile a classic. Fowler's idea that you can actually more or less "adiabatically" transform a bad design into a good one is the foundation of the fashionable (and controversial) "extreme programming" movement started by Kent Beck.

The first of a whole series of books published by Addison Wesley on "Extreme Programming".

Have you ever wondered what you should really do diferent from FORTRAN programming in order to be a truly faithful object oriented programmer? Then this is the book for you. It introduces you to the famous Booch method, and gives a very good insight into the "how" of OO analysis, design, and programming. 

Highly recommended. 

Read the Dr. Dobb's Journal review and the ACCU review.

One of the few books that explain what CRC (Classes, Responsibilities, Collaborations) Cards are and how they are used. Recommended.

A good, concise overview over UML.

This book seems to reappear with every new Rose version.

There's not only the Gang of Four, but also the Three Amigos. Now these three guys have published the long awaited three standard books on UML: The user's guide, the reference manual and a description of the unified software development process. These three books are probably instant classics.

Something to put in your bookshelf to impress other people.

A good introduction how to use object oriented databases from C++. Quite readable for someone (like me) who has not any experience with relational databases, SQL, and the like.