Scott Meyers' C++ books weren't just a great guide to the language, they were my first exposure to the idea of programming as a craft.
Before that there was just appeasing the angry demon in the compiler or having the right result; after there was a bigger picture of doing things the right way that would have good results beyond the next trial execution.
I'm the same way. Until someone loaned me a copy of Effective C++, I simply hacked code. The best practices in that book opened my mind a great deal, and really started me down the path to developing software and building systems. Now I'm the one handing junior developers my copy of the book to read, and hopefully helping them in the same way.
Before that there was just appeasing the angry demon in the compiler or having the right result; after there was a bigger picture of doing things the right way that would have good results beyond the next trial execution.