Java: Bruce Eckels Thinking in Java is both free (eBook from his website, although if you prefer the printed version, you can buy one of those aswell) and excellent.
OS: "The Dinosaur Book" by Silberschatz et. al. is pretty good. Can't remember the actual title of the book.
Also you'll want to read up on Design Patterns and Refactoring. Martin Fowler has a couple of good books that should be helpful in that respect. Also Larman and Cockburn have written good books on agile system development and the Rational Unified Process and UML.
Lastly Kent Becks "Extreme Programming Explained" is a must-read for anyone who wants to write quality software in short timeframes.
OS: "The Dinosaur Book" by Silberschatz et. al. is pretty good. Can't remember the actual title of the book.
I'd like to work in the web development arena, but I feel those subjects would still be useful to know.
Sure, but without a degree, you won't have much chance of that happening, even with a degree the competition from developing countries is pretty fierce. Stick with college. Seriously.Also you'll want to read up on Design Patterns and Refactoring. Martin Fowler has a couple of good books that should be helpful in that respect. Also Larman and Cockburn have written good books on agile system development and the Rational Unified Process and UML.
Lastly Kent Becks "Extreme Programming Explained" is a must-read for anyone who wants to write quality software in short timeframes.