A theme that runs through some of the comments here is that TAOCP is not worth reading straight throught, but it makes a good reference work. In the last 10 yea

A theme that runs through some of the comments here is that TAOCP is not worth reading straight throught, but it makes a good reference work. In the last 10 years, I've used it as a reference exactly once, when I peeked into Vol 1 on semi-numerical algos. I found it as well-written as I remembered, but requiring heavy slogging to find out one detail. Ultimately, I found what I needed online. I would argue that great as TAOCP is, it's rarely going to serve many needs even as a reference.