I wouldn't say it's a book I'd sit down and read cover to cover. I recall reading the first few chapters, then just bouncing around the algorithms. It was also the reference book for an algorithm course I did. If you're finding it hard going then maybe go to a course, or lookup some youtube classes.

Edit: this may help "What is the best online data structure and algorithm MOOC/course in C/C++?" https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-online-data-structure...

Thanks for your suggestion :) I'll check it out. I tend to focus more on books so maybe I should give a course a go.

I just finished my undergrad CS algorithms course, and my professor mentioned this book, but we didn't use it. He essentially said that it contains so much material that it's rather all-encompassing as a reference book, but he definitely discouraged it as a textbook for learning as we would in a course. It sounds like you'd likely want to find something more geared towards teaching.

Thank you :) that's reassuring. What do you recommend?

Well, our text for the course was Levitin's Design and Analysis of Algorithms, but I really can't speak to its quality at all - we just used the professor's own prepared information pretty much exclusively. From my brief look through the book, it looked okay, at least!

It is a textbook. Typically, students don't read text books cover to cover (and often read very little or none). Instead, they perhaps read some of the few sections that are listed in the syllabus and follow the lectures and do the homework because that's usually what's on the test.

Outside academia those things are not an option and part of what makes a good book is that it can be read and reread over a long period of time and still be relevant.

One of my favorite essays:

http://norvig.com/21-days.html