Data Mining and Machine Learning Essentials

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

A superb guide. The examples are small but complete.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.