Yeah good point, the reason for the strange comparison is that I started to write “I wish I could make more time for [TAOCP]” and was immediately forced to confront my time spent on social media/HN, so I did. :)

There is also a contrast between the two: they lie on opposite ends of a spectrum from shallow to deep, of things that make you really think / put in honest effort, and also give a deeper enjoyment.

As for reading other (good) books: like anything else, it's ultimately a question of what gives you most joy, I guess. Learning (say) real analysis from Rudin would also be deep and make you work, but Knuth has more jokes.

> This is a really nice comment, but I find the comparison at the end so strange. You shouldn't compare reading these books to using social media, a better comparison would be: given a limited amount of time, should you read these books, or some other one?

I don't get what you find strange about comparing reading TAOCP vs reading social media. Your time is limited, and each activity that you choose bears an opportunity cost. Of course it is an interesting question to ask whether you should read another book instead, but I bet that most people waste a lot more time on social media than reading a book that is not TAOCP, so svat's comparison does make a lot of sense in my opinion.

I'm not the one you replied to, but for me:

I read social media when I'm too tired to really engage with anything in a serious way.

I (try to) read TAOCP sometimes when I have a surplus of energy and ambition.

Admittedly, sometimes ambition comes along a little bit after I force myself to do something challenging, but TAOCP is so difficult for me that I really have to be feeling it to make any headway.

Reading professional material means you want to improve yourself/your craft/your knowledge, while reading social media is shown to have mostly negative effects, so obviously nobody is going to advocate the latter.