I worked through parts of TAOCP when I was a graduate student (and by parts I mean a very small, tiny fraction of the book). It was highly useful to demonstrate

I worked through parts of TAOCP when I was a graduate student (and by parts I mean a very small, tiny fraction of the book). It was highly useful to demonstrate rigorous techniques of how we can analyze algorithms, and I used it a couple times as a reference material. I would only recommend the book to people who want a career in academic CS or are looking for an exhaustive theoretical understanding of the topics covered. A "proper" read of one TAOCP volume would probably take in excess of a year for a well-prepared reader. TAOCP is extremely rigorous and detailed, the discussion of any topic there will cover every detail. For practical software engineering, it's not useful, you don't deal need that level of theoretical understanding as a software engineer (if you're one of the few who need it, you'd know you are). And you need a very solid mathematical background to actually understand it. If you want to understand the theory of CS algorithms, I think the CLRS "Introduction to Algorithms" is an excellent textbook. It covers about everything most people are likely to encounter, has comprehensive mathematical analysis but is much easier to follow than TAOCP. For an understanding of the mathematics involved, Concrete Mathematics is a good book, it teaches the mathematical concepts and tools that are the foundation of other, more rigorous books.