[vkazanov]

Sure, C is the original low-level language and any low-level discussion should start with it.

There is problem with the classic introductory book though. "The C Programming Language" is a classic and ppl mention it all the time. But it's horribly outdated and doesn't cover the living language at all. It's more like a description of a language authors wanted C to be, not the real thing.

Take "C Programming: A Modern Approach" or something along the same lines. Go through it, get a hang of the language then follow up with something like "Effective C" or "Modern C", which are good recent mid-level books on the language. I also like "The C Puzzle Book".

Then there's a brilliant "Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets" explaining subtle details of the language.

One thing that is missing from the books is POSIX. The language itself is very barebones so in practise people are always coding against some Linux/*nix/POSIX or equivalent APIs. These serve as a std library of sorts as otherwise even moderately involved projects become prohibitively big.