TAOCP is about like reading an encyclopedia; a very well-written, black and white encyclopedia with not-necessarily-clear illustrations. For instance, I just o

TAOCP is about like reading an encyclopedia; a very well-written, black and white encyclopedia with not-necessarily-clear illustrations. For instance, I just opened randomly to the binary tree traversal material in Vol. I. It's very mathematic or formal, e.g. "T2. [P = Λ?] If P = Λ, go to step T4." and so on. To fish out some of the more interesting details, you have to look through the questions and then flip to the answers. Meanwhile, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_traversal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_traversal has the same information but somehow more clearly presented. If I flip to other random pages and scan for 30 seconds, I can't find much that is actually interesting---particularly in the early volumes. ----- The Art of Electronics is more my speed, as it's a collection of real-world applications, deep dives into each component type, quick comparison tables, and clear overview of a specific design's pros and cons. It's as much interesting to read through as it is useful as a reference. I can flip to basically any random page of The Art of Electronics and find something eliciting, "Oh cool." I can't say the same for TAOCP.