History of the laser: A retrospective in six volumes

1963 - The Snapshot

 Just three years after the first ruby laser, this book gives an overview of how the laser was discovered, what it can do and how to build one.

John Millar Carroll: The Story of the Laser
Dutton, ISBN-10: 0525211004, ISBN-13: 978-0525211006, out of print, available only secondhand

1975 - How to use it

One of the early textbooks that helped people understand the new tool. Today, it shows just how far application ideas were exceeding the technical possibilities in those days.

John E. Harry: Industrial Lasers and their Applications
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, ISBN-10: 0070844437, ISBN-13: 978-0070844438

1991 - Korea, Laser, Kennedy 

"How did it happen the way it did?" The historian Joan Lisa Bromberg links the history of the laser with that of the USA between 1950 and 1970. 

Joan Lisa Bromberg: The Laser in America 1950 - 1970
The MIT Press, ISBN-10: 0262023180, ISBN-13: 978-0262023184

2000 - The Big Fight 

Who was first ? Gordon Gould fought Charles Townes for thirty years over the patent for the laser. 

Nick Taylor: Laser - Thirty-Year Patent War
Simon & Schuster, ISBN-10: 0684835150, ISBN-13: 978-0684835150

2005 - People and Ideas 

Physicist Mario Bertolotti weaves the history of science from the beginnings of optics to laser physics with the life of the researcher.

Mario Bertolotti: The History of the Laser
Institute of Physics Publishing, ISBN-10: 0750309113, ISBN-13: 978-0750309110

2006 - A beam of light conquers industrial fabrication 

This book presents "The Laser as a Tool". It follows the laser beam on its path from the laser unit, through the beam delivery system all the way to the workpiece, and presents all important laser processes.

TRUMPF: The Laser as a Tool
Vogel, ISBN-13  978-3-8343-3072-7