If "Readings in Database Systems" is your cup of tea you should probably consider

* Database Internals (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/database-internals/9781...) - very recent and of manageable size

* Database System Concepts (https://www.amazon.com/Database-Concepts-Abraham-Silberschat...) - specifically, the chapters on storage and query processing, it's a huge volume otherwise. Also, "Database Systems: The Complete Book" is basically an older version of it.

I know two DB bibles which explain how a DB engine actually works. It's much more interesting reading than another SQL manual. But it's not awfully practical if you have no particular interest in DB technology. And both are pretty dense. * https://www.amazon.com/Database-Systems-Complete-Book-2nd/dp * https://www.amazon.com/Database-System-Concepts-Abraham-Silb...

There's a very cool not-quite-alternativE: https://leanpub.com/how-query-engines-work. It covers a fair chunk of DB technology but not storage. Definitely check out their repository at https://github.com/andygrove/how-query-engines-work/tree/mai... .

A companion to DDIA would be https://www.amazon.com/Database-Internals-Deep-Distributed-S... (especially its treatment of LSM trees which is harder to come by).

> I haven't looked to see if every question is covered by these, but here's some standard textbooks I like:

The good thing is @cpervica has suggested standard textbooks, as opposed to suggesting obtuse texts unreachable to a beginner.

Algorithms:

I think a beginner might be confused by Sedgewick's terse coding style.

Computer Architecture and Operating Systems:

I haven't read either of the books. I would add http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&itemId=04... to the list. Like most of the OS books, you won't get a full picture of the OS from this book, but you will know the topics which will help you understand a real OS. Also most of the non-recent book won't cover flat memory model http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_memory_model That is not to say knowing about segmentation is going to hurt you.

Mathematics:

I haven't read any of the books. From TOC, the cryptography and the statistics book looks good. I would recommend skipping cryptography maths for starters. If you are a beginner, an application level understanding of cryptography is what you need.

Networking and Systems:

Tanenbaums books loves history and theory. It's a nice book nevertheless. Once you are done with it, you should read Stevens' book on TCP/IP http://www.kohala.com/start/tcpipiv1.html

If you find time, you should read the second volume as well: http://www.kohala.com/start/tcpipiv2.html

For databases, I read this book:

http://www.amazon.ca/Database-System-Concepts-Abraham-Silber...

This is not a very interesting book, but it does cover the fundamentals very well. You will need a bit of will power to read it.