On the other hand, if you wanted to recreate modern Computer Science from scratch, without knowing it (e.g. all the programmers died from a zombie plague and you need to stop an alien invasion; or you're stuck on a desert island with a computer and lots of batteries and know that if you can program a new wireless radio driver you can put out enough interference to catch a plane's attention) and TAOCP was the only book that was accessible, it might be enough.