A while back ago I was teaching son of a friend about different search and sorting algorithms.
He was so fascinated about this new world, and asked me to recommend some books he can read on the subject.

The de facto books like The Algorithm Design Manual or Introduction to Algorithms are too academic and serious for his age, so I searched for a substitute and found a gem: Grokking Algorithms .
Grokking Algorithms has a easy going tone, it’s easy to swift through the pages and the author, Aditya Y. Bhargava, Adit for short, does a great job explaining fundamentals as easy and casual as possible.

The repetition of concepts and main points help with memorizing the concepts without feeling stuck and bored. The book has a lot of nice illustrations that helps with understanding different concepts and algorithms.
End of chapter questions are easy without any special twist, they won’t make for a hardcore homework but do a very good job for both reviewing and checking accuracy of reader’s understanding.

The book is a short read with less than 300 pages most of which are illustrations, so you can breeze through it in less than a week or so if you’re new to the world of algorithms, and still get a solid knowledge of basics and popular algorithms for further readings.

Would I recommend it? Of course, It’s a very good read for both those who are new to algorithms and also can be used as a casual refresher.
If you’re just starting to learn about algorithms, go for it, preferably even for your first read.

Overall, I rate Grokking Algorithms 6 to 7.5 (depending on your goal) out of 10.