laptak2003/AmazonDataScience huggingface dataset:
Thomas Sowell is always a pleasure to read.  No hysterics, no name calling, a "just the facts mam" type of guy.Dr. Sowell carefully unfolds a plethora of reasons why individuals or groups are not uniformly represented in all outcomes.  People sort themselves based on a number of criteria which affects what we do, how we behave and what most interests us.  Disparity in outcomes are due to a number of factors including factors that are uncontrollable.  A sub-group with an average age of 30 will have huge noticeable differences in outcomes (wealth, leadership positions, viewpoints) when compared to a sub-group with an average age of 40.  Individuals who are fortunate to grow up in a two-parent family are more likely to flourish than those who don't.  To understand outcomes of sub-groups it's important to take a number of exogenous factors into account.To understand the numerous factors that affect outcomes, you need to read the book.  Read Discrimination and Disparities.
Sowell has done it again! His scholarship and insistence on hard-evidence debunks the mythology of the Progressives and Postmodernists. Unfortunately those who would gain the most from this book will never read it.
Wonderful book, was very happy with the purchase. The deliverer leaving a book on the porch in a downpour still in a cardboard box without plastic wrap sitting in front of my door so that I had to knock over my packages and barred my exit from my home so I had to damage it in order to retrieve it or walk around my house in the rain from the back door to unblock my front door is absolutely STUPID. I believe that the people delivering these packages are either fantastic or they need to be fired there seems to be no medium. The book is awesome.
Thomas Sowell's most recent book does not disappoint.  For persons that value the use of data and science to reach a conclusion, his rendering of the basis for some of today's racial questions is essentially irrefutable - literally.  Readers familiar with other Sowell works that touch on this particular issue will find that this book dives much deeper with more data to support his position; there are about 1,000 (no kidding) footnotes that indicate data sources and may interest the reader in other authors' works, studies, and reports.  Highly recommended!
What can I say, I just think that Tom Sowell is one of the greatest minds alive today. His insight and perspective resonate we me and open me up to such truths that unless you understand history and where we were, you will never understand these times and how we got here., and why you need to think everything you hear or read through. Dont just take things as truth, but find what makes it truth. Is it your emotion or is it a fact. God has truly blessed us with Tom Sowell. Easy to read and easy to understand.
Typical Thomas Sowell.  To the point, and exposes false controversies and the leftist "need for a solution" to problems that were never problems in the first place, or had already been correcting themselves in before the "solution" was adopted.  Makes a very clear distinction between natural disparities that are viewed by many as discrimination (especially racial), and thoroughly debunks the "discrimination" of the past, and exposes the negative results of various anti-discrimination programs current and past.  A short, easy read, and well worth it.  Would recommend.
I have learned stuff.  There are things under the heading of "intelligence" that I just didn't know.  For example, someone who grew up in an educated household with good English, reading books, etc. can understand more words/thoughts of language spoken faster,  That would give the person a great advantage in college over someone raised in a disadvantaged home.  You can overcome the disadvantage, though; e.g. read Ben Carson's biography.
This was my first Thomas Sowell book, and I will definitely be reading more. This is a must read in today's world. In a nut shell: Just because there is a disparity, does not necessarily mean that their is some sort of discrimination (sexism, racism, any kind of ism). There are many causes of disparities, and there has to be empirical evidence of discrimination to verify that it is the cause of the disparity. I loved all of the real-life examples that the author used to illustrate his points. He is obviously a brilliant man, and his book was very intellectually stimulating.
A GREAT Collection of writings by one of America's GREATEST THINKERS and PATRIOT ALIVE!!! Kanye West would do himself a LOT of Justice by immersing himself in this book and many other's by the author Thomas Sowell. Kanye has the capacity to comprehend, understand, absorb and advocate the Wisdom and Knowledge of this author. Thomas Sowell is an American Treasure who LEADS by example!!
I have not enjoyed reading a book as much as this one for many years. Page after page of information and statistics about race relations that I was completely unaware of. Could not put it down. Should be mandatory reading for all freshmen and politicians on both sides of the aisle. Can't wait to read his other books.
This work was tactful and hits home on many of Sowellâ€™s long standing arguments like minimum wage, problems with governmental meddling, and rent control issues.  He powerfully argues with much anecdotal data that our many attempts (regardless of the intent) to curb disparities have eventually caused many of them, or at least exasperated them.Even though I think the arguments are strong, there were sections of the book that felt cherry picked which wouldnâ€™t make the argument less true, and I never felt like the overall thrust of the arguments were polluted, but it would be my singular critique.
This author knows his topics and is able to share them in a way which keeps you engaged. It's really interesting how often the actions taken to combat perceived discrimination end up being core cause of the same. This is the type of material which needs to be taught in our colleges and universities. Just the facts and the truth supported with scientific research. In the first Chapter Disparities and Prerequisites he lays bare the role I.Q. has on one's real success.Children of parents with professional occupations were found to hear about 2,100 words per hour at home. Children in Working Class houses heard 1,200 words per hour where children from homes which are on welfare were found to hear 600 words per hour. What about the advantages of being the first born in a family? Or are they really disadvantages? Hard work and perseverance are so important to really achieving success. But so is the personal desire to succeed.His examples of those companies who have gotten so much right and dominated their industry for decades are lessons which must be paid attention to closely. He lists examples of house hold name type companies known globally that learned first hand the massive price they would pay for not evolving and staying abreast of technology changes. Even more startling is how these same companies once controlled the industries but failed to change with the times and now are nearly relegated to being footnotes in history.Another great book by Thomas Sowell.......
Thomas Sowell is a true gem of the American experience.  A black man who grew up in NY during the 30's.  A black man who got into Harvard BEFORE the Civil Rights Act.  Sowell speaks in the common tongue for the common man, but delivers timeless wisdom and much needed common sense. Within the "short" book, you will find enough hard information which will enable you to never loose a debate again when it comes to the topics covered. Like most of Sowells books.  A voice that will carry on for generations.  Glad to live in the time of Sowell.
Thomas Sowell is the man to read if you want a realistic, objective perspective. No goofy, over emotional, politics-of-envy-and-jealousy progressive narrative here.
Gives a logical view of the decisions being made around us. Example after example points out the numerous effects of what many might think are "good and bad" political or social decisions, and why something thought to be as common as "equal outcomes" isn't as common as we think. Overall I found this to be an enlightening and wonderful audio book, but this is not something you just listen to in the background while you sleep or complete complicated task, paying attention is paramount to understanding the points made throughout the book. Definitely listen during daily commutes or long rides in the car.
Sowell always does a good job showing that vision doesnâ€™t equal outcome. Just because people want something to be true doesnâ€™t make it so. He points out how people misuse statistics and , unfortunately, how people maintain incorrect positions in the face of conflicting evidence. Sadly, we have swapped opinions for analysis. Keep writing Tom, we need you.
Throughout his long and distinguished career Thomas Sowell has been a consistent stickler for truth. In this book he takes empirical aim at the truth about outcomes. In short, social scholars and economists inevitably over-simplify cause and effect and fail to accept that â€œgrossly unequal distributions of outcomes are common, both in nature and among people, in circumstances where neither genes nor discrimination are involved.â€The book is short, to the point, and very clearly written. You donâ€™t need a degree in sociology or economics to follow. The arguments are steeped in common sense, which is where we often lose sight of the truth in our admirable but misguided desire to do the â€œrightâ€ thing.The problem is actually much bigger than the areas of social justice addressed in the book. It is a problem that is quickly eroding the value of all of our political, social, educational, and economic discourse.Type â€œThis is what science says about â€¦â€ into Google and youâ€™ll get close to 1.5 billion hits. News outlets and social commentators use the heading daily. In reality, however, â€œscienceâ€, which is an empirical methodology, not a body of knowledge, probably says nothing about the topic, and whatever apparent â€œfactsâ€ the author includes probably say even less in the larger context of truth and meaning.Technology, of course, is making the problem worse. Technology gives a voice to every would-be opinion-maker, reinforcing the false perception, in all of its 1â€™s and 0â€™s, that math and statistics are inevitably and inherently â€œtrue.â€ Itâ€™s a ruse. To the extent it is true it is typically so only in the one dimension in which the writer of the article used it to advance his or her point. Thatâ€™s not the multi-dimensional and dynamic world, however, where most important reality, like opportunity, compassion, and fairness actually lives.My only complaint is that the electronic book is over-priced for what it is. The author doesnâ€™t typically set the price and Mr. Sowell is a premium intellect that deserves a premium price tag on his thoughts. It is, nonetheless, an empirically supported conclusion, so Iâ€™m hopeful Mr. Sowell will forgive me that.
Another must-read book from Thomas Sowell. This short (126 page) volume should be required reading to run for office, any office, and for government policy makers. Alas, those who need it most probably wonâ€™t read it. And, as Sowell points out, humans have a great ability to ignore facts to preserve their preferred visions. Sowell grew up in a poor black family in NC, was supporting himself by the age of 17, and worked his way to a PhD in economics. Thus, he is unafraid to research and write about racial issues that would get a white academics drummed off campus and is unafraid to discuss uncomfortable facts. He has dozens of books in print. His â€œBasic Economicsâ€ is used as a text book around the world, having been translated into several languages. In this book, he destroys both the hard leftâ€™s view that disparities in outcomes are always caused by discrimination and the alt-rightâ€™s view that they are caused by a lack of capability in minority populations. He reports, for example, that the same black students who are failing in regular public schools are excelling in many charter schools. His discussion of the â€œincome gapâ€ between the top 20% and the lowest 20% is particularly interesting. The media acts as if people stayed in the same quintile all their lives. He reports that 95% of the people who were at one time in the bottom group rise out of it, while a great many people are in the top 20% only a few years. I started out in the bottom, making $38 a week when I was elected to the Massachusetts Senate, and $12k there the first year. For the last ten years of my 31-year career as an association executive, I was in the top 20%. But when I retired due to pulmonary fibrosis to have a lung transplant, we fell out of it. I now make $24,000 a year working PT. If you read only one book this year, this should be it.Robert A. HallAuthor: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
As every Thomas Sowell book, you must read/listen to it! After listening to 5 hours or reading 140 pages, you'll have all facts necessary for understanding the different kinds of discriminations and the origins of the disparities in our societies.
In a divisive political climate, Thomas Sowell speaks about the differences, not only just in the realm of different forms of discrimination, but also within the context of certain disparities found amongst a variety of cultures. Yes, Sowell is widely regarded as a "conservative" intellectual, however-no matter which side of the aisle or spectrum that you lean, you will find this collection of studies, along with Sowell's analysis, to be interesting, informative, slightly provocative, and well written. I read this book within 2 day's time during a busy work week and limited free time. It kept me yearning for more after every line; definitely a must read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book in that Sowell debunked many of the stories politicians have created to sell their agenda. Sowell provided an  accurate and factual data to allow you to gain a knowledge  of the rest of the story.This is a very good read for those that want to learn more than sound bites
Some of the content and many of the core ideas here will be familiar to Thomas Sowell fans who have read most of his previous work.  But I think Sowell intends this book for a new and broader audience.  At a brief 127 pages (plus 30 pages of notes), it makes a focused and accessible case designed to melt SJWs like water on the Wicked Witch.  I highly recommend it as a gift to the intellectually needy.  I also encourage administrators, instructors and professors to consider adding this book to their curricula as a balance to the Marxist-dominated literature that is so common today.
Thomas Sowell avoids bias and carefully details the true disparities and discrimination in the world- backed by facts. My biggest take away from this book is that more times than not, when the government gets involved in trying to fix discrimination/disparities- they actually make it much worse. All sources are cited and accredited.
Mr Sowell is an American Treasure.  This book reminds me of the opening of Proverbs 1:  To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youthâ€”Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance...
Shows with facts and figures that everyone faces discrimination and disparities at some time in their life.  Proves that this is not limited to one type of people or group of people.  There is always something valuable and interesting to learn from one of his books.
Exceptional book by an amazing author, speaker, and human being. Political parties - particularly the left - target people at their weakest and rely on emotions to engender hyper sensitivities to any conceivable slight or disparity.  Sowell writes through all that and states the fact devoid of emotion.  "Discrimination and Disparities" spells out the truth regarding slavery, race relations, what is and isn't racism, and many more views which dispel our current state of angst.  Most importantly, he uses facts, logic, and reason which lead to inescapable realities.  Well, unless you are emotion-driven.
A great look at how poor logic and political agendas lead to misuse of facts and figures which then misleads our societies into unsupported or even inaccurate conclusions regarding discrimination and racism.  Lots of great insight (opinion), but also lots of facts supported by extensive studies & source notes, etc.  Mr. Sowell can speak powerfully on the subject, not just because of his strong educational background, but also because of his life experience as a minority.  He does not let his minority status dictate a social or political agenda, but instead uses his freedom of thought, strong analytical skills and the facts to come to independent conclusions that are both timely and thought provoking. .
This book is relatively short but very hard hitting.  It exposes some of the myths within the community that profits from crying about discrimination. If anything, the book shows that the issues are more complex and nuanced than people think. Sowell presents the data and it is indeed compelling.
This book is â€œWealth, Poverty, and Politicsâ€ on a diet and I mean that in the best way possible. The areas considered here are much more interesting and as always Sowell gives some of the best defenses of the free market and allowing individuals to make their own decisions as opposed to surrogates.
The author uses detailed analytic data to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that not all disparate outcomes are due to racism or sexism.He doesnâ€™t deny that racism exists but he shows that differing outcomes can result from factors other than race.
Another great work by Dr. Sowell. Dr. Sowell demonstrates that equal outcomes are unrealistic and can never truly be achieved. It boils down to hard work and meeting all prerequisites that are required for a specific job and career path. Not even in nature is there an equal distribution of natural resources and disasters. Once you read enough of Dr. Sowell, you learn to decouple political rhetoric with facts. Dr. Sowell and Census data are your friends, not the mainstream media.
Thomas Sowell never disappoints.
Having grasped the importance of real data, genuine observation, and listening to entire details, while persisting in the face of those who recognize none of that, Sowell never disappoints.  The only issue is trying to figure out which of his books to consume first.  If you haven't read him yet, go ahead and start here, but go back and read earlier books to see how thoroughly he researches his work, and how resolutely he draws the reader into recognizing the conclusions.
Such an incredible read! I always hear unsubstantiated claims like "Democratic policies are actually hurting black people" and I'm always curious how they got to that conclusion... Well, here's the evidence!
Intelligent and well informed, Sowell lays out the facts that explain discrimination in a way that few other scholars can do. He is an amazingly courageous academic and stands out from the crowd. A must read if you want to understand racism accurately today.
A great book with great insights. A fact-dodgerâ€™s worst nightmare.  Thomas Sowell is an American hero as far as Iâ€™m concerned.  Someone for young economists to look up to.
One of the best books Iâ€™ve read in my life  As much as I enjoy the authors commentary on various radio programs this book has taken my appreciation for this great man to newer heights. I highly recommend this to anyone seeking the truth.
With example after example Sowell explains the weakness and flaws of what he calls the invincible fallacy.  Truly a great read for anyone interested in clear and comprehensive thinking on social issues.
Sowell clearly reveals the danger (and rampant exploitation) of false assumptions, mainly that success should be evenly or randomly distributed. He's a modern day Edmund Burke on inequality. Thirty years on from his watershed  "A Conflict of Visions" the good professor is carefully parsing, grounding in fact, and explaining the most divisive things of our fractured day with a generous spirit.
I can't say enough positive things about this book. Mr. Sowell's insight and writing are so educational and a breath of fresh air. I wish more people would read this book and educate themselves on these topics. We need more people like him.
Sowells books are all great. He has many links to studies and the way he puts concepts is outstanding, thought provoking and easy to understand. I have read many of his books and he does have some similar content that links many of his concepts together. Personally, I can see a lotOf what he says in daily life. Great read!
A reminder that empiricism is paramount and social justice warriors are often misguided, or worse, disingenuous.Culture by group varies. Deterministic explanatory approaches to racial inequalities have not been by verified scientific study, but cultural differences have. Not many modern disparities can be proven to be the result of privilege or racism, contrary to the prevailing social movement of our time.
Thomas Sowell is as brilliant as ever.I loved the way he clearly and forcefully demonstrates out how virtually every major governmental program aimed at reducing poverty or equalizing differences in income and wealth between different segments of the population have ended up harming rather than helping the very people they were trying to help.
The book is amazing from start to finish. Dr. Sowell has an amazing talent for explaining complex economic concepts in very easy terminology. I was an economics major in undergrad and at no point in reading this book did it feel like I was reading from one of my textbooks. Highly recommend.
Very commonsensical and well researched across various cultures and time periods, which is characteristic of Thomas Sowell. His writing is a wonderful antidote to the racial pandering that characterizes so many politicians on the left.
This is an analysis of issues done in a scientific manner. The research he bid and the REAL facts presented bring clarity to a complex subject. I have learned so much.I have never thought the government should be involved in social issues but Dr. Sowellâ€™s analysis drives that point home with a big hammer.
I'm a white make with conservative economic and military views, but liberal social and personal views.  Sowell rightly shows that data has been misused (and ignored) by the left, right, racist and enlightened.  VERY heavy analytic reading and CRYSTAL CLEAR pathways to understanding the errors most all of us have operated under for far too long.
Book goes beyond emotional rhetoric that permeates the discussions of Economic racial discrimination and present valid experiential, testable reasons to this social occurrence.
This book is a treasure. I have told everyone I know to read this book, regardless of political persuasion or perspective. It is a special book. I am beyond glad I read it and will read again soon
This book is a must-have. Very insightful, as well as, factually informative. A very interesting read. Thank you, Thomas Sowell.
As usual Thomas Sowell brings the truth in an easy to understand and well documented manner. Especially applicable to the political and cultural conflict going on in America today.
Thomas Sowell hits the nail on the head with succinct, fact-based writing. Unfortunately, a vast majority of academics and politicians are towing the line on policies which are well documented as pitfalls in this book.
Text is 127 pages, not 197 pages as listed.  Dr. Sowell uses facts and logic, which often contractict the superficial hysteria which plays on peopleâ€™s emotions.  His deeply thoughtful, well grounded in reality, but easy to read and understand writing is a must read!
As with all Thomas Sowell books, this update adds some new information and adds to the overall quality of the book.  Sowell writes in a factual and straightforward manner that is not heavy handed.
What can one say about Sowell, brilliant, honest, factual book, that doesn't pull punches or offer excuses. Some may despise this man for his political stance, but go ahead and take a shot at disputing his facts.
Amazing! A lot of info I did not know. Well written. Had just seen an interview on a new show Sun night at 10p. Life, Liberty and Levin. He is well known but I had not ever heard of him, nor read anything of his.
Sowell sculpts an argument like Michaelangelo sculpted David, but removing fallacies rather than marble.  This book is particularly needed at a time when free speech is threatened and calling someone a racist wins an argument.
The book gives a great insight into the social/economic issues that have persisted over the past century. His solutions are simple and heavily footnoted.This is a great read and something to make you think!
I was excited to find this book. After looking over table of contents and preface it was just the intro to genetic bioinformatics I had been looking for. And by an Oxford author and published by MIT? I put down the $40.The intro is clunky.  The text reads like a string of definitions with ambiguous linking thrown in. However when I got to the paragraph in the attached picture, I stopped reading and came here to tell you to look elsewhere. This book is written by social scientists who apparently did not have someone who remembers freshman biology proof read it. The author states humans being diploid and the structure of DNA being a double helix have some sort of causal relationship. What are you doing, Dr. Mills? Why would you form a team to write what is essentially a beginners how to guide to genomic bioinformatics without including someone having competency in biology.Perhaps the rest of the book is excellent. I didn't get past the first chapter. I'm going to return it and find something else.
This book is certainly one of Sowell's best works. He breaks down the important distinctions and relationships between discrimination and disparities and his analysis is wonderfully insightful. A fantastic book
It is difficult to overstate the importance of cultural and economic discrepancies or the frequency with which they are misunderstood. Thomas Sowell's patience and clarity in explaining these issues, and diagnosing the unintended consequences of government interventions intended to address them, make this book an absolute necessity for students and voters alike. Sowell is an intellectual giant whose 88 years have only enhanced his contribution to economic science.
An easy read that pops the balloons of many of the "common wisdom" claims concerning racial matters.  Well researched and referenced, with a lot of food for thought in today's politically correct days.
I just wish more people knew who Thomas Sowell is and were able to read even one of his books - this one being the latest. If you are a progressive or fancy yourself an enlightened intellectual, he will shake you to your foundation.
This is an excellent book by an excellent author. It should be taught in schools along with his Basic Economics. The country will have less trouble if everyone reads this.
This book is for those who always had an issue with todays discourse in regards to societal discrimination and dispartities but also don't have the time or energy to pull up all the facts.  In which Thomas Sowell and his team of researchers give you strong arguments, data, facts to lead to a more fruitful discourse on the issue of Discrimination and disparities.
I will give this to my son so that he can have some clarity on the world growing up.  Thomas Sowell is a breath of fresh air for people who want to get some compassionate realism and reject idealistic solutions that actually make society's problems worse.
Iâ€™ve read most of Sowellâ€™s works and this is another that didnâ€™t disappoint. As the title states; he one of the greatest economic minds of our time.
Dedicated readers of Thomas Sowell will find much of the issues covered in this book familiar .  For new readers this is a good introduction to his serious examination and clear, well argued issues in dispute.  Highly recommended.
I fully appreciate mr Sowellâ€™s approach to this two topics. He has successfully negotiated the many pitfalls so typical recently when discussing discrimination and disparities in society. While not an economist, I managed to follow is train of thought. The extensive bibliography was helpful. I agree that we are frequently distracted by the eloquence of social justice advocates. His presentation of empirical data was refreshing.
Great book, perfect balance between theory and everyday examples.I wish this book was in a bigger format; the graphics and the font are very small, at least for me.I recommend also taking the coursera Process Mining course by this author.
Great primer to the field.
Comprehensive, easy to understand, a little sense but I like that. I took his coursera course and bought the text to go with it. Great buy!
This workbook definitely came in handy for my statistics class. Not only was it necessary for labs when you have to complete worksheets, rip them out, and turn them in class, it was also very helpful just to take notes in. I could easily follow along in lecture while taking notes in this workbook with a fill-in-the-blank style which the professor also taught from on the overhead projector. The notes came in handy when studying for quizzes and exams and helped me understand the concepts better with the exercise problems provided also.
Needed it for class but it's awesome!
Great workbook for the class but mine go delivered with a huge coffee stain on it so it looks like someone spilt coffee on the book and then put it in a package to be shipped and Iâ€™m not happy about that because now all the pages are sticking together ðŸ˜•
I accidentally bought the previous version but this one is the current workbook for statistics at UF. There are several things missing like notations and other information that the instructor goes over but nothing major. It is handy when it is used for quizzes and studying for exams. Very concise and easy to take notes. The paper isn't the best but it works.
Just as wanted. This is what the college recommends
Arrived on time and as advertised
Item exactly as described & fast shipping!
Bought this workbook for Stats 1 at UF with Ms. Mocko. I didn't use the textbook once this semester, but this workbook has been invaluable. You DEFINITELY need it to take notes in and complete the lab activities. It makes taking notes much easier than if you were to do it on a sheet of notebook paper. Pretty clear, concise, and there's plenty of room to write notes in. Made stats pretty easy.
I searched all over for a resource to help me understand how to run my data science team more efficiently. We've been struggling with pursuing dead ends or making progress too slowly, and I was hoping to find something to help. Most resources that I found were vague or unhelpful. However, this book was excellent - I immediately saw that we needed to get away from trying to use traditional project management principles and focus on more agile sprints with Doug's recommended data science life cycle. I've started to restructure my teams, as I saw that having the analysts present their work was slowing them down, and I've assigned project managers to help more with the communication, dissemination, and implementation of results. The idea of a research lead and the role that Doug recommended for this person is revolutionary and completely counter to how I'd been thinking of a research lead (I was lumping a research lead and project manager together in the past). This book is a very different way of thinking about data science teams, and I only wish I had come across it earlier.
As a practitioner struggling with team productivity, I gained a lot from the definition of roles and processes. Also, it is easy to read and includes links to worked examples and charts. A good book.
The content presented in the book is so elementary that it does not justify the price of the book in print or digital media.
Doug Roseâ€™s latest book is timely, well-written and easily digestible.  This book is helpful for those starting a data science team, interested in improving the effectiveness or efficiency of their team or even if their data team is in all respects functioning well â€“ youâ€™ll come away with something new. As someone who works on a seasoned data science team, the bookâ€™s chapters resonated with me, including the sections on: pulling together team members with the right mix of technical skills and contextual experience, being transparent within the company about the findings and implications, asking the right questions with the data, how to tell stories with the data and other key take-aways.  Dougâ€™s writing is straight-forward and well-crafted and I enjoyed his anecdotes from his many years working with data teams from a wide-variety of organizations.
Even though it was only two days several years ago, the class I took with Doug Rose on big data still stands out to me today.  With "Data Science: Create Teams That Ask the Right Questions," he has once again shown the ability to pick the most compelling aspects of his courses and translate them to book form.Rather than presenting sifting through large datasets as drudgery only meant to boost a company's bottom line, Doug works to change the reader's mindset to embrace the intricacies of big data.  One learns to tell a story enhanced and supported by data, and in doing so, gets caught up in the adventure and possibility of looking at the world in new ways. This is more than just a treatise on the latest industry buzzword.  It will broaden your perspective whether directly in data science or not.
As companies grapple in the world of Big Data Dougâ€™s book presents a refreshing approach to the exploding world of Data Science.  While reading his book I felt as though Doug and I were sitting across the table having a conversation.  The materials are presented in a form, which is easy to follow while thought provoking.  Having workable examples allows one to step from educational to experimental in short order.  It was a pleasure reading how to gleam information from Data!  Highly recommend for those looking to grow their understanding and teams working in the ever-increasing world of Data.
An overall excellent book on data science and the teams executing the work. It's not difficult to read with just enough technical jargon so that you have a good overall understanding on the subject. I really appreciated the section on "Asking Great Questions". I wish that the graphics were in color and I was not able to access all the examples.
A very relevant book for today's modular work teams. Has some well-defined structures that help structure work processes that can be applied easily and with tact. Highlights the importance of questioning - something that we need to look at in great detail today, especially as teams get increasingly hyperspecialized and automated.
I bought this book as a companion to the Data Science course on Coursera and immediately sent it back.I had hoped that this would serve as good reference material for the course. Instead it was full of you tube links to videos working through examples.I wasn't amused when I discovered that I had paid for a printed list of you tube links.
This material is helpful but this book has so many typos that it becomes a distraction.
Best book ever to get you started on R.
This is the book to get when you want to raise your R skills from knowing how to use existing functions to knowing how R works under the hood.  It covers introductory topics like what is a vector, list, etc but it also gives a good first presentation on topics that are left out of introductory books.  You will pick up the vocabulary you need to read advanced books.  Easy to understand topics, like what are formal arguments, free variables, lazy evaluation etc. are presented without distractions.  The coverage on confusing topics like single and double square-bracket notation is some of the best out there. Advanced topics like scoping rules and functions that return functions are also well covered.This book is also a nice bridge between old school R programming styles and the modern Tidyverse mindset.  You will get an excellent first look at many of the libraries that are in the Tidyverse.The book does contain links to videos covering the same material.  The visuals and the content is very solid but the videos are hard to listen to because the author has not worked with a speech coach to learn to stop saying umm.If you are living on a tight budget ... the author allows you to buy this book on a sliding scale at learnpub.Overall, this book is superb and is a must for anyone who wants to be "good" at R.
This book was the accompaniment for the Data Science with R course in Coursera. It was a good supplement to the course lectures, and I have a feeling it will be handy as a reference book as I go forward in learning data science.
Excellent content for beginners. It has been used in parallel of R programming classes in Coursera.org.
I use this book regularly in my work as an accredited statistician working in industry.  I read it in the Fall of 2017.  It is clear that the authors have been using these methods for a long time.  I am glad they took the time to write this book.
The book was new, no folded, or written when I received it. The code was new and worked very well. The content is informative; graph, examples are well-designed.
This book is both current and highly effective.  Benjamin Baumer is very successful in facilitating and enhancing the reader's understanding of data science within the context of R.
This book was clearly written for someone who is an aspiring "Data Scientist" with absolutely zero previous knowledge of R and sadly statistics. If you already have a background in statistics, you will find the oversimplification irritating and just plain stupid. I actually felt angry reading some parts, knowing this is entirely inadequate.Who this book is NOT for:Someone with a statistics and ML background.Someone who reads a lot of R documentation and R-bloggers.Who this book is for:Some who is jumping on the "Data Science" bandwagon and just needs some talking points.People who hate looking at math.
this is titled modern Data science with R::then I read the first 9 chapters..I state I have a discrete bases of data analysis and machine learning:I found These chapters, for 90%, useless...Nothing improved in data visualization methods (with ggplot2, that is a great library!), neither in R structure data manipulation;ok a functionally usage of plyr, dplyr package, but ever a" basic use"; rather more advanced features Are totally absent;all part of predictive analysis and ensemble is too elementary; online tutorial are more advanced, sorry but it's ridiculous..ensemble? ..autors did better not to mention them..please ;)if you have some bases in data analysis with R, save your money! Look elsewhere!for example Discrete data analysis by friendly, more and more advanced topics
I took the Coursera John Hopkins Data Science certification a few years ago. This book would have been great intro before starting that trek. I enjoyed the authors' simplicity and brevity. Highly recommended for dipping your toe into the data science data lake (or whatever moniker is being used today.)
I like the book and highly recommend Numsense! by Ng and Soo for any knowledgeable individuals who would like to grasp the essence of data science and machine learning but do not want to be bugged down by mathematical and programming details. Despite no math added, Numsense! strikes a balance between breadth and depth of data science and gives no nonsense introduction to the field. Ng and Soo used real world problems to motivate the use of unsupervised, supervised and reinforcement learning algorithms. They also portrayed the contents lively and beautifully without abused jargons. Two thumbs up!
A highly readable summary of the different models and techniques for data scientists. This was great. The kindle version was my first. Excellent experience.
The main tools and techniques of Data Science are explained with clear real-life examples and without resorting to math. A great introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning.
I purchased several Kindle books on the subject at the same time, and started reading them at the same time. I quickly realized that I should focus on Numsense and finish it before reading the others. The content is intuitive, with solid examples that have opened my mind to the new concepts so that I understand them well. I now have a framework on which I can build as I re-read Numsense and then tackle the other books. I would recommend this book to anyone as the best portal to Data Science.
The book gives a perfect understand of the various techniques and algorithms used in data science. It provides a great high level view without going into the math.The book is a great resource for people who are beginners to data science and trying to learn on their own, not too interested in the math behind the works, leaders or managers looking for quick understand.
All I can say is this is how technical books should be written.  I can only learn from how clear the authors are.
As someone who did statistics at university purely out of necessity it was a great way to get back into the concepts around data analysis. Leaving the math out was a good way to make it accessible.
A good book to learn the high level knowledge of some machine learning algorithms, without needing to worry about the underlying math.
Forget the nonsense of IT media! Read Numsense and get to understand what "Data Science" is all about! Being in the BI field for almost two decades, this book is by far the best introduction to Data Mining (the real name behind buzzwords and hype like Machine Learning and Data Science.)If you are already schooled in Statistics and Mathmatic model developement,this book will be of no help.If, however, you don't know anything about how to use data to improve business and answer questions, this is your book. You're in to get a stream of "a-ha!" moments.The book has an almost highschool structure, easy to read and understand. Each method is introduced by describing the problem it solves best - forecasting for regression, profiling for clusters and so on. Then it solves the problem using a high level, descriptive analysis. After problem is solved some concepts are made clearer or in a more formal language. And that's it. At the end you are asking for more because it was sooo nice!
As other reviewers mentioned, it's great entry level introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning. More importantly, it's a great resource for those of us who are buried deep in the technical side of Data Science, but need to surface from time to time and explain what we are doing and how we go about it to our business partners. I will definitely steal language and examples from this book for my business presentations
As a leader, student, and educator of Data Science, I think this is an excellent book to 'de-mystify' the black box of Advanced Statistics for business leaders who are launching studies that leverage Big Data. As Social and media research takes on a new dimension with huge sources of structured and unstructured data, Numsense shows numerous examples of how to make sense of data and make decisions based on how they inform us. Several algorithms have been described in English, and some fundamentals have been discussed for beginners. Data Scientists may already know many of these, but middle managers and business leaders will find this educational - they can plan on leveraging data using many of these cool and evolving methodologies. This type of book creates an opportunity for the business community to speak in a common vocabulary as industries transform from gut-feel to scientific, structured analysis based decision making.
I am a software engineer, but not a mathematician or a statistician.  I am a devops engineer that works with data scientists.  Understanding their work a little better makes servicing their needs easier.  I did this backwards.  Purchased the book, read it, then asked one of the data scientists to look at the book. I did not waste my time. Well written, covers the topic well.  I did have to reread sections and  study the  images carefully to understand the topic being covered.
I feel bad as I had to return the book.I would rate it 5 stars if I did not know anything about the topic and wanted some general exposure so I would not sound stupid in a conversation. The tone is conversational and the authors convey very well what each methods does and does not do. Kudos to them for making it easy for the layman.However, the book lacks details if you actually want to implement one of the method. In practice you would have to do (a lot) more research to actually get something going and this is where I was disappointed. The Kindle preview does not do justice to the actual content but this is common.I think I will look for more in-depth books from those authors because they have a knack to convey difficult concepts in simple fashion.
I am an experienced software product manager and ex-software developer. As of recently I've been involved in managing products that use ML and in managing data science teams.I've tried many different ways to educate myself in the field of AI/ML and data science. Unfortunately, most of the educational materials (books, online courses, articles, webinars,...) fall in two major categories - either too shallow (high level concepts and buzz words, making them unsuitable for practice) or too technical (making them suitable only for aspiring data scientists or ML engineers).This book is written at the perfect level of details for technical product managers and managers of data science teams, to give them enough depth for meaningful discussions with the data scientists and ML engineers on the team, to be able to effectively apply product/project management skills to ML projects, and to gain the credibility and trust needed for staying in control of the direction and execution of the project.In addition, the language and organization of the book are top notch.This is the best book on data science I've found so far for my needs as a product manager. Strongly recommend.
Too many writings, I've read on data science tend to instantly delve into the weeds and yet never cover what the methodologies really are, much less when and why to use the methodology. Not with Numsense. This is a well-written book that does the opposite - it tells what and why for each methodology.For me it would have been better if the examples were more focused on other areas other than business & marketing, such as manufacturing. I can put a few uses cases together, though.Overall, very good book on the topic and one in which every manager should add to their immediate reading list. Unless they are already leading data science in their organization.
So you need to analyze a lot of data... and you aren't certain what your analysis options are, or which is better for your case. This is a great resource to help you determine where to put your effort... or... to evaluate a proposed analysis effort. If nothing else, the strengths and weaknesses summaries for each method will give you intelligent observations to make and questions to raise.But do not expect to learn how to perform any of these methods from this text. The devil of the detail must come from somewhere else. However, you will have a good idea of what to look for.
I just finished this book. I am trying to get into machine learning but was always boggled by the terminology like overfit, underfit, supervised vs unsupervised models, accuracy, tuning etc. This book gives perfect context and gives a concise summary of world of machine learning. It is perfect to get a sense of what this is all about, how models work, limitations of each model. Each algorithm is explained by a real world use case which a person can relate to.I guess even practicing machine learning professionals should buy this book to deepen their understanding.