It is very tough going.
Really, it took me about four times of re-reading it to really get all of it- there was a lot that went over my head as a teenager, but a lot that stuck with me on that first read, so it still had a lot of effect on me. But I was in my thirties before I really got all of it...

I understand why some consider it a load of pretentious wank- it's not an easy book. I also understand why those who have read it and really understood the whole thing have an almost evangelical need to proclaim its greatness, as it's very insightful.

Me, I highly recommend it, but understand why most don't slog all the way through. I do, however, feel that it should be taught as a college course and should be required reading for engineers in particular. I work with an awful lot of engineers who have gone so far into their left-brain world that they almost have no idea how the right-brain part of the world works, and in the process alienate a lot of humanity and turn into the characters that Dilbert parodies.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 20 May 2008, 16:19, Reply)