Reader reviews

Decent, but uneven. Some chapters are much stronger than others.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. Borrow it first if you can, or at least check the table of contents carefully before buying.

I got a lot out of this, even if a few sections felt rushed.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.

Exactly the book I needed. Straight to the point and genuinely useful.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

The clearest explanation of analytics I have come across.

I have been working with analytics for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

I got a lot out of this, even if a few sections felt rushed.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

A few useful pages, but mostly material I had seen better elsewhere.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Two stars. The subject deserves a better treatment than this.