Distributed Processing Algorithms

[Jay Nelson]

Anybody have recommended reading on the topic of
Distributed Processing Algorithms?  I am looking for
seminal texts, papers, research or even speculation.

My interest is how to express computation in a fully
distributed network of equal CPUs, without resorting
to a task manager or other such process.  I want the
nodes to independently decide what to do, yet the
group as a whole needs to coordinate their activate
with the least amount of overlap in computation or
negotiation.  I am trying to avoid introducing single
points of failure.

jay