First of all, if SICP would take you months to go through, TAOCP will take you years-- let's not kid ourselves. That being said: I'd definitely start with SICP

First of all, if SICP would take you months to go through, TAOCP will take you years-- let's not kid ourselves. That being said: I'd definitely start with SICP, for one reason: the video lectures, available at http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-lectures/ http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussma... They'll take you about 20 hours to go through, and as far as I am concerned, are the best introduction to Computer Science you can get in that short a time-frame.