The best book on programming for the layman is "Alice in Wonderland"; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol is a wonderful book that introduces many interesting ideas. It was written by Lewis Carrol for a little girl he allegedly loved as an introduction to mathematics.
He touches many very important topics on linguistics and mathematics in a very playful and easy to read style. This leads to the nice thing that one can often find new interesting ideas in it.
Usually, people refer to both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass when they refer to the first title.
Examples:
If you like Alice's Adventures you might like lisp-poetry.