Reader reviews

Strong content, uneven pacing. I would still recommend it.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. The chapters on databases & big data are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

Excellent from start to finish. No filler, no padding.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with ai & machine learning.

This is the one to get if you are serious about ai & machine learning.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

Better than I expected. Rare to find a technical book this well judged.

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 author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

Genuinely excellent — I finished it in a week and immediately started again.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.