[ashwnacharya2]

> “it’s very likely that you’re not at a point in your life that reading the series, especially cover to cover, is the best use of your time”.

Genuinely curious, when would it be the best use of my time? Is there any scenario where "Read TAOCP and gain X superpowers" would hold true? I have been wanting to get into this for some time now because I like the idea of intellectual pursuit but I also hoped that some benefits, however incidental, would carry over into my career.

[c256]

Offhand, I’d suggest reading it over a long period of time, starting whenever you feel like you have a good mastery of whatever project you’re working on at the time, and taking breaks to rest or sprint on need-it-nowish topics in between.

The benefits of understanding how computers work at low levels, how algorithms work and are built/studied/compared, and how data structures can change how you think about programs and processes (to call out a few barrel-sized buckets) are likely to be helpful over the long term, while the likelihood that you happen upon the key thing that you need today (or this month) at just the right time is pretty low.

[solveit]

Sounds like it would be great for a bored mathematically-inclined high school student with an interest in programming who is also pretty confident that they can get into the college of their choice.