I'll take the counter-point on this one. I picked it up after it was mentioned in the YC's Summer Reading List; however, I found it to be a tire to finish. The

I'll take the counter-point on this one. I picked it up after it was mentioned in the YC's Summer Reading List; however, I found it to be a tire to finish. The reasons and explanations given seem to touch around a technical, but not too technical approach to algorithms. Getting stuck in a place that probably just leaves both audiences a bit unhappy. For instance, there is a chapter that mentions that the optimal stopping point is ~37%. There is never any mention about how the 37% number is found. Of course, I could look it up but I could just as well look up the optimal stopping problem. Aside from that, the examples come across as contrived and inapplicable. Sure merge sorting your socks sounds great, but I still will never do it!