Re:Nay, archetypal... (Score 2)

Warning, some of my entries are slightly OT...but all pertain. You don't need to be purely scientific to be academic in nature or purpose.

In terms of pure science and academa, a few have been reasonably covered here already. A few from my personal library:

Anything from Donald Knuth

Andrew Tannenbaum and most of his publications

The greatest fundamental contributor to all great science, however, is inspiration. WRT/scientific inspiration, a few loom large in my mind...

Most things from:Marvin Minsky (Negative Expertise was at one point groundbreaking for me)

Richard Feynman holds a place in my personal history

Douglas R. Hofstadter and his writting, Godel, Escher, Bach

Roger Penrose and his writting, The Emperors New Mind

Carl Sagan, especially his work in The Demon-Haunted World. I read this in more recent years, and found myself launched into a new understanding and exploration of the nature of science and humanity.

...and pick any of the large number of scifi authors, of course.

UA