Must read books to start your data science

journey

A book is a
dream that
you hold in
your hand.

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions

Fail
By Nate Silver

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Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball
performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hairs
breadth, and became a national sensation as a bloggerall
by the time he was thirty.The New York Timesnow
publishesFiveThirtyEight.com, where Silver is one of the
nations most influential political forecasters.
Data Science for Business
By Foster Provost

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Written by renowned data science experts Foster Provost and
Tom Fawcett, Data Science for Business introduces the
fundamental principles of data science, and walks you
through the "data-analytic thinking" necessary for extracting
useful knowledge and business value from the data you
collect. This guide also helps you understand the many datamining techniques
Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining,
Inference, and Prediction
By Trevor Hastie, Robert Tibshirani, Jerome Friedman

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This book describes the important ideas in these areas in a
common conceptual framework. While the approach is
statistical, the emphasis is on concepts rather than
mathematics. Many examples are given, with a liberal use of
color graphics. It should be a valuable resource for
statisticians and anyone interested in data mining in science
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Data Smart: Using Data Science to Transform

Information into Insight
By John W. Foreman

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Written by Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett, Data Science for
Business introduces the fundamental principles of data
science, and walks you through the "data-analytic thinking"
necessary for extracting useful knowledge and business
value from the data you collect. This guide also helps you
understand the many data-mining techniques in use today.
Doing Data Science
By Rachel Schutt, Cathy O'Neil

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Now that people are aware that data can make the difference
in an election or a business model, data science as an
occupation is gaining ground. But how can you get started
working in a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary field thats so
clouded in hype? This insightful book, based on Columbia
Universitys Introduction to Data Science class, tells you what
you need to know.
Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will
Click, Buy, Lie, or Die
By Eric Siegel

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This book is easily understood by all readers. Rather than a
"how to" for hands-on techies, the book entices lay-readers
and experts alike by covering new case studies and the latest
state-of-the-art techniques. You have been predicted by
companies, governments, law enforcement, hospitals, and
universities. Their computers say, "I knew you were going
to
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An Introduction to Statistical Learning: With

Applications in R
By Gareth James, Trevor Hastie, Robert Tibshirani, Daniela Witten

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An Introduction to Statistical Learning provides an accessible
overview of the field of statistical learning, an essential
toolset for making sense of the vast and complex data sets
that have emerged in fields ranging from biology to finance
to marketing to astrophysics in the past twenty years. This
book presents some of the most important modeling and
Big Data: A Revolution
That Will Transform How We
prediction techniques.
Live, Work, and Think
By Viktor Mayer-Schnberger, Kenneth Cukier

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A revelatory exploration of the hottest trend in technology
and the dramatic impact it will have on the economy,
science, and society at large. Which paint color is most likely
to tell you that a used car is in good shape? How can officials
identify the most dangerous New York City manholes before
they explode?
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
By Christopher M. Bishop

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Pattern recognition has its origins in engineering, whereas
machine learning grew out of computer science. However,
these activities can be viewed as two facets of the same
field, and together they have undergone substantial
development over the past ten years. In particular, Bayesian
methods have grown from a specialist niche to become
mainstream
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Python for Data Analysis

By Wes McKinney

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Python for Data Analysis is concerned with the nuts and bolts
of manipulating, processing, cleaning, and crunching data in
Python. It is also a practical, modern introduction to scientific
computing in Python, tailored for data-intensive applications.
This is a book about the parts of the Python language and
libraries youll need to effectively solve a broad set of
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
By Edward R. Tufte

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The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables.
Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250
illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical
graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for
precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the highresolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving
graphics.
Mining the Social Web: Analyzing Data from Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Other Social Media Sites
By Matthew A. Russell

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Want to tap the tremendous amount of valuable social data
in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+? This refreshed
edition helps you discover whos making connections with
social media, what theyre talking about, and where theyre
located.
www.analyticsinsight.n

Beautiful Data: The Stories Behind Elegant Data

Solutions
By Toby Segaran (Editor), Jeff Hammerbacher (Editor), Robert Romano
(Illustrator)

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In this insightful book, you'll learn from the best data
practitioners in the field just how wide-ranging -- and
beautiful -- working with data can be. Join 39 contributors as
they explain how they developed simple and elegant
solutions on projects ranging from the Mars lander to a
Programming Radiohead
Collectivevideo.
Intelligence:
Building
Smart
With Beautiful
Data,
you will: Explore the
Web 2.0 Applications
opportunities and challenges ..
By Toby Segaran

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Want to tap the power behind search rankings, product
recommendations,
social
bookmarking,
and
online
matchmaking? This fascinating book demonstrates how you
can build Web 2.0 applications to mine the enormous amount
of data created by people on the Internet. With the
sophisticated algorithms in this book, you can write smart
Visualize This: The Flowing Data Guide to Design,
programs
Visualization, and Statistics
By Nathan Yau

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Practical data design tips from a data visualization expert of
the modern age Data doesn't decrease; it is ever-increasing
and can be overwhelming to organize in a way that makes
sense to its intended audience. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we
could actually visualize data in such a way that
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The Human Face of Big Data

By Rick Smolan

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The images and stories captured in The Human Face of Big
Data are the result of an extraordinary artistic, technical, and
logistical juggling act aimed at capturing the human face of
the Big Data Revolution. Big Data is defined as the real time
collection, analyses, and visualization of vast amounts of the
information.
Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data
(Naked)
By Charles Wheelan

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Once considered tedious, the field of statistics is rapidly
evolving into a discipline Hal Varian, chief economist at
Google, has actually called sexy. From batting averages
and political polls to game shows and medical research, the
real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps
and bounds. How can we catch schools that cheat on
Building Data Science Teams
standardized tests?
By Nathan Yau

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As data science evolves to become a business necessity, the
importance of assembling a strong and innovative data
teams grows. In this in-depth report, data scientist DJ Patil
explains the skills, perspectives, tools and processes that
position data science teams for success.
Topics include: What it means to be "data driven. The
unique roles of data

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Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your

Data and Control Your World
By Bruce Schneier

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Your cell phone provider tracks your location and knows
whos with you. Your online and in-store purchasing patterns
are recorded, and reveal if you're unemployed, sick, or
pregnant. Your e-mails and texts expose your intimate and
casual friends.
Developing Analytic Talent: Becoming a Data Scientist
By Vincent Granville

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Learn what it takes to succeed in the most in-demand tech
job "Harvard Business Review" calls it the sexiest tech job of
the 21st century. Data scientists are in demand, and this
unique book shows you exactly what employers want and the
skill set that separates the quality data scientist from other
talented IT professionals.
Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup
Faster
By Alistair Croll, Benjamin Yoskovitz

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Whether youre a startup founder trying to disrupt an
industry or an intrapreneur trying to provoke change from
within, your biggest challenge is creating a product people
actually want. Lean Analytics steers you in the right direction.
This book shows you how to validate your initial idea, find the
right customers, decide what to build, how to monetize your

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Big Data at Work: Dispelling the Myths, Uncovering

the Opportunities
By Thomas H. Davenport

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One of big datas most fascinating applications is in the world
of business. Big data can illuminate decision making,
improve
customer
relationships
and
streamline
organizations. Thomas Davenports Big Data at Work explains
the opportunities, impact and critical factors for successfully
using big data in business.
Privacy in the Age of Big Data: Recognizing Threats,
Defending Your Rights, and Protecting Your Family
By Theresa M. Payton and Ted Claypoole

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Big data can predict what youll buy at the grocery store, the
spread of disease and even when youll die. The power to tell
the future with seemingly incomprehensible quantities of
data is truly astounding; but, is it all just a little too personal?
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
By Christopher Bishop

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This book assumes no prior knowledge of the subject matter,
but readers with some intermediate knowledge of
mathematics, such as linear algebra and calculus will find it
easier going than those without. It explains and illustrates
the way data scientists are introducing Bayesian algorithms
to enable computers to make decisions more quickly
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Python Machine Learning

By Sebastian Raschka

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Machine learning and predictive analytics are transforming
the way businesses and other organizations operate. Being
able to understand trends and patterns in complex data is
critical to success, becoming one of the key strategies for
unlocking
growth
in
a
challenging
contemporary
marketplace. Python can help you deliver key insights into
your data
Data Analytics Made Accessible
By Anil Maheshwari

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This book fills the need for a concise and conversational book
on the growing field of Data Analytics and Big Data. Easy to
read and informative, this lucid book covers everything
important, with concrete examples, and invites the reader to
join this field. The chapters in the book are organized for a
typical one-semester course.
Storytelling with Data
By Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

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Storytelling with Data teaches you the fundamentals of data
visualization and how to communicate effectively with data.
You'll discover the power of storytelling and the way to make
data a pivotal point in your story. The lessons in this
illuminative text are grounded in theory, but made accessible
through numerous real-world examples..
www.analyticsinsight.n

The Lean Startup

By Eric Ries

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Most startups fail. But many of those failures are
preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being
adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are
built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a
startup as an organization dedicated to creating something
new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability
and Science of Customer Centricity
By Avinash Kaushik

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Adeptly address todays business challenges with this
powerful new book from web analytics thought leader
Avinash Kaushik. Web Analytics 2.0 presents a new
framework that will permanently change how you think about
analytics.
Statistics Done Wrong: The Woefully Complete Guide
By Alex Reinhart

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Everyone knows that abuse of statistics is rampant in popular
media. Politicians and marketers present shoddy evidence for
dubious claims all the time. But smart people make mistakes
too, and when it comes to statistics, plenty of otherwise
great scientists--yes, even those published in peer-reviewed
journals--are doing statistics wrong.
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