Donald Knuth is actually a great writer and teacher. Try Concrete Mathematics instead of TAOCP, it is a shorter and easier introduction: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.com&#x2F;0201558025" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.com&#x2F;0201558025</a>.<p>It is humorous and it includes notes from past students in the margin. I really enjoyed it.<p>Shameless plug: I wrote an illustrated book on algorithms that aims to be an easier read than TAOCP, CLRS and others: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.com&#x2F;1617292230" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;amzn.com&#x2F;1617292230</a>.