I'll second the recommendation above. For folks coming to algorithms for the first time I would recommend _Grokking Algorithms An illustrated guide for program

I'll second the recommendation above. For folks coming to algorithms for the first time I would recommend _Grokking Algorithms An illustrated guide for programmers and other curious people_ as a nice quick _tour_ of the field. And the _Common Sense Guide_ (mentioned above) as the next book. For complete beginners this book has the best simple explanations of algorithms I've read in any book (and I have a whole bunch of them).