Back to the subject at hand: reading TAOCP front to back isn't for everybody (reading it is way easier if you have a good understanding of combinatorics and number theory), but I enjoyed it, and learned a lot from it.
I wouldn't expect anyone to read TAoCP front to back either. It isn't finished. We've only got the first part of chapter 7 and none of chapters 8 through 12. On the other hand, it's the best rabbit hole out there for the non-layman.
Knuth coined the term "computer science". I won't claim it made be a better programmer, but it couldn't have made me worse.