While making a Pong clone with a friend, we had to implement some 2D collision detection. For research purposes, my friend dug up a book called "AdvancED Game Design with Flash" by Rex Van Der Spuy. This book was clearly targeted at implementing 2D collision detection in ActionScript, and I also have some problems with how the concepts are presented, e.g. presenting one method as better than another, without explaining that decision.

Can anyone recommend some good material on 2D collision detection? I'd prefer it if it kept the implementation details as language-independent as possible, e.g. by implementing the concepts in pseudo-code. Language-specific materials are not completely unwelcome though, though I'd prefer those to be in either Java, C#, F# or Python or similar languages, as those are the ones I'm most familiar with. :-) Lastly, is there perhaps widely known and used book on collision detection that most people should know about, like a 'the book on 2D collision detection'?