As a former student of Allen's, I wholeheartedly agree. I actually started learning programming from him before even arriving at Olin, through his free textbooks (available here: http://greenteapress.com/wp/).

We first met when he interviewed me as part of Olin's Candidate's Weekend. I told him how impactful the book had been. An hour later, he found me again and gave me a signed physical copy.