I'll second the recommendation above. For folks coming to algorithms for the first time I would recommend _Grokking Algorithms An illustrated guide for programmers and other curious people_ as a nice quick _tour_ of the field. And the _Common Sense Guide_ (mentioned above) as the next book. For complete beginners this book has the best simple explanations of algorithms I've read in any book (and I have a whole bunch of them).

Why do you think Jeff Ericksons book is not hood for that?

Well, I can tell you why I think my book is not good for that — it isn't designed to be that!

My book grew out of lecture notes that I wrote for my algorithms classes at Illinois. My students are almost exclusively juniors and seniors. In particular, they already have several semesters of programming experience, a full semester of discrete math, and a full semester of data structures (which includes things like sorting and searching and the basics of algorithm analysis). They are the audience I wrote the book for.

Equivalently, I have very little experience teaching those prerequisite classes, which makes me the wrong person to write a textbook about that more foundational material!

At a more basic level: Different people are going to find different sources more or less useful. Different authors are better matches for different readers' backgrounds, intuition, and needs. My book ain't gonna work for everyone, because no single book works for everyone.

I'm not familiar with Common Sense Guide — thanks for the suggestion! — but the other books listed above are all fantastic (for different reasons, and for different audiences).

Hi Jeff, in your opinion, what would be the best algorithms book for students taking algo in Freshman year who want to learn it properly, in an in-depth manner?

It would really help me with many questions that I have.

Thanks.