I've wanted to buy these since the late 90s when I used to enjoy thinking about algorithms in the abstract, but never bought them because at the start of my career I felt quite poor and it didn't seem like a good use of my money.
In 2015, I decided I was no longer poor and should buy the box-set as a treat. I set aside time to read a chapter in the first week after it arrived, but realised that it would take years to read and actually understand the material in that one book, let alone the other two. I decided I'd just dig in from time to time, but found that I never actually did, because in all honestly I'm less interested in abstract algorithms now, and prefer to spend free time doing other things in life that don't involve computers.
So, my copy is still essentially untouched after almost a decade.
In 2015, I decided I was no longer poor and should buy the box-set as a treat. I set aside time to read a chapter in the first week after it arrived, but realised that it would take years to read and actually understand the material in that one book, let alone the other two. I decided I'd just dig in from time to time, but found that I never actually did, because in all honestly I'm less interested in abstract algorithms now, and prefer to spend free time doing other things in life that don't involve computers.
So, my copy is still essentially untouched after almost a decade.