"The famous offer of a reward check worth "one hexadecimal dollar" (100HEX base 16 cents, in decimal, is $2.56) for any errors found, and the correction of these errors in subsequent printings, has contributed to the highly polished and still-authoritative nature of the work, long after its first publication. Another characteristic of the volumes is the variation in the difficulty of the exercises. The level of difficulty ranges from "warm-up" exercises to unsolved research problems, providing a challenge for any reader."
For some people, it will be a status symbol. But honestly, you shouldn't be buying these books unless you actually want to learn something. Just saying you have the books will do you no good and is just a waste of paper.
But beware that it has a high information density and that it is for the mathematically inclined.
To digest in small portions :-)
I often hear TAOCP described as the series of programming books "that every programmer should read." I think this is simply untrue ... TAOCP was not written to be read from cover to cover ... It's very dense and academic, and the examples are all in assembly language.
(From http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-...)
Not skepticism, just genuine curiosity and intrigue. I don't have a formal CS background, so forgive me for the naiveté if this is obvious stuff.