Yes, of course, but that's a silly attitude. Isn't anything better than nothing? Therefore isn't it better to skim one good book then to read nothing? I see why someone would ask for recommendation for a single book.
You described the books as containing “knowledge we don't gravely need in the first place”. If that’s the case, and if you’re reading for knowledge, why bother reading either one? If you already know you don’t need the knowledge those books contain, move on to other books.
And if you’re just reading for fun, that’s fine, but then why does the amount of knowledge the book contains even enter into it? Why even bring it up in your comment, especially in a way which comes across as snarky?
And fwiw, if I’m reading snark into your comment where no snark was intended, my apologies.
No snark intended. If you're software engineer with tight schedule due to young kids or ill family member or whatever, but you still want to slowly move the needle when it comes to career and your own knowledge then you don't "gravely" need the algo book, but you would benefit from reading one, it's just a question of what will give you the best ROI (ROI here being both financial but also personal satisfaction etc).
English is my second language so my thoughts often come across differently than intended - thank you for replying instead of just down voting
