When comparing Structure and Intepretation of Computer Programs vs The Mythical Man-Month, the Slant community recommends The Mythical Man-Month for most people. In the question“What are the most influential books every programmer should read?” The Mythical Man-Month is ranked 5th while Structure and Intepretation of Computer Programs is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose The Mythical Man-Month is:
(That you can't just add people to move faster.)
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Knowledge can be applied to any language
This isn't a book you'll glean direct practical tidbits out of, an introduction to not only functional programming but how to think in a paradigm outside the usual way C*/Python/Ruby/Java/etc... are coded.
Even if you wind up never working in Scheme or any other primarily functional language, the tactics and thought processes you'll learn here will apply to any currently-evolving language to a greater or lesser degree. You'll be able to map your thought process into the paradigm that works best for your current situation and not just be forced into a limited set of idioms that causes unnecessary boilerplate and clunky code mangling.
Pro Teaches very important programming concepts
Like closures and encapsulation without language support of objects.
Pro Very good for absolute beginners
This book gives a great insight about immutable and mutable state (with pros and cons), typisation, FP, OOP, and many other things in a very beginner-friendly manner
Pro Teaches you something counter-intuitive
(That you can't just add people to move faster.)
Pro Shows the value of focus and communication
Cons
Con It's showing its age in the proposed solutions and methods
Software development community gathered enough knowledge to have a lot more productive methods.