3 Machine Learning Books that Helped me Level Up as a Data Scientist
Tags: datascience, python, machinelearning, career
Published: 2019-04-28 07:08:15

---
title: 3 Machine Learning Books that Helped me Level Up as a Data Scientist
published: true
tags: DataScience, python, machinelearning, career
canonical_url: https://strikingloo.github.io/3-ml-books
cover_image: http://www.datastuff.tech/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/book-1659717_1280-1038x576.jpg
---

There is a Japanese word, _tsundoku_ (積ん読), which means buying and keeping a growing collection of books, even though you don’t really read them all.

I think we Developers and Data Scientists are particularly prone to falling into this trap. Personally, I even hoard bookmarks: my phone’s Chrome browser has so many open tabs, the counter was replaced with a “:D” emoji.

In that zeal for **reading** and **learning** most of us experience, we usually end up **lost** , not sure of **which book to pick up next**. That’s why today I’ll give you a very **short list**: just 3 Machine Learning books, so that you won’t just bookmark it and forget it.

Each of these books has **helped me immensely** in different stages of my **career** as a Data Scientist, particularly in my role as a Machine Learning Engineer.

Here come the books!

## O’Reilly: Data Science from Scratch with Python
![The book cover of Data Science from Scratch with Python](https://strikingloo.github.io/resources/post_image/data-science-from-scratch.png)

I’ll review [this book](https://amzn.to/2DDhIUH) first, since it’s the most **introductory** or broad one in this list.

I have a very personal attachment to this book, since it’s the one that **got me my job**. That’s right! I knew next to nothing about Data Science, even what Data Science was, before picking up this book.

I did have a pretty strong Probability and Statistics background, and knew enough Python to defend myself. However, I was missing the **practical side** of it.

This book did many things for me. It:

- Showed me how to **process data in Python** efficiently and elegantly (following Python’s **good practices** ).
- Taught me how to **implement** most simple **Machine Learning algorithms** from scratch.
- Showed me what the **day-to-day job** of a Data Scientist may look like. 
- Taught me how to **communicate my results** to others clearly.

I wholeheartedly recommend it if you’re **new to the Data Science community**. It will give you a clear overview of most topics you’ll need in order to start being a productive Data Scientist.

It will also showcase Python’s most commonly used libraries and expose you to a lot of **idiomatic code** , which is always a plus.

Here’s a link to _[Data Science from Scratch on Amazon](https://amzn.to/2DDhIUH)_.

## Springer: Introduction to Statistical Learning
![The book cover of Introduction to Statistical Learning](https://strikingloo.github.io/resources/post_image/intro-to-statistical-learning.webp)

[This book](https://amzn.to/2ZP93YS) is the most comprehensive **Machine Learning book** I’ve found so far. I learned a lot from it, from **Unsupervised Learning** algorithms like [K-Means Clustering](/wiki/clustering), to **Supervised Learning** ones like XGBoost.

The first chapters may feel a bit too introductory if you’re already working in this field (at least that was my experience). However, they also sum up many things you may not have learned in such an organized way before.

The later chapters are, however, where I think this book really shines. Its explanation of random forests, boosted trees and support vector machines are spot on.

Here are some of the topics you can learn from _Introduction to Statistical Learning_:

- **Regression** and **Supervised Learning** Algorithms: from **Linear Regression** and **SVM**s to **tree-based** methods.
- **Unsupervised Learning** techniques: especially Clustering, including the K-Means algorithm.
- Sampling methods, and other general Machine Learning **core concepts**.
- The meaning, advantages and disadvantages of **metrics** such as **accuracy, recall, precision** , etc.

I think this book has been my best read so far this year, and it’s made me into a more round up Data Scientist. I recommend it if you have a bit more experience, but want to **polish your edges.** It is also a very good **reference** book to keep on your shelf.

It also shows everything’s implementation in R, which I didn’t find particularly useful, but it didn’t hurt. You’ll probably import most of this code from SciKit learn anyway.

As before, here’s a link to [Springer’s Introduction to Statistical Learning on Amazon](https://amzn.to/2ZP93YS).

## Deep Learning by Goodfellow, Bengio et al.
![](https://strikingloo.github.io/resources/post_image/deep-learning.jpeg)

[This book](https://amzn.to/2J0WjZe) blows my mind every time I open it. I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t really read it from start to finish. Yet.   
The only reason it’s the last one in the list is because of its very **specific scope** : Artificial **Neural Networks** or **Deep Learning**.

However its first chapters, with an overview of Deep Learning’s **precursors** and what makes it different, and then the explanation of **how Deep Learning works** , are marvelous.

It even starts off by explaining everything you need to know **before studying deep learning** , with whole chapters dedicated to **linear algebra** , **probability** and **information theory** , and **numerical computation** methods.

The next chapters, which I’ve only partially read, serve as an awesome **reference** whenever you need to dive deeper into a particular Neural Network **architecture**.

They include in-depth explanations of **Convolutional** Neural Networks and **Recurrent** Neural Networks, along with many **regularization** or optimization methods.

The third and last section, which revolves around **cutting-edge technology** , explains **Generative models** , [Autoencoders](https://medium.com/towards-data-science/autoencoders-deep-learning-with-tensorflows-eager-api-data-stuff-378318784ae) and many other interesting algorithms. Adding them to your own toolkit will probably give you a great boost!

The authors of this book are the **rock stars** of Machine Learning right now. One of them even [won a Turing award](https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/27/geoffrey-hinton-yann-lecun-and-yoshua-bengio-honored-with-the-turing-award/) recently, so I can’t think of better people to teach this subject.

Here’s an [Amazon link](https://amzn.to/2J0WjZe) if you’re interested in the _Deep Learning_ book.

## Conclusion

I went from a broad, introductory book to an advanced, specific one.

Each of these Machine Learning books has had a profound impact in my career and, to some degree, the way I see the world.

I really hope at least some of them will have the same positive impact on your life!

And if you’ve already read, or are reading, any of them, tell me what you think of them in the comments! I’d love to discuss any of them further, especially the Deep Learning book.

We can also discuss them on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/strikingloo), [Medium](http://medium.com/@strikingloo) of [dev.to](http://dev.to/strikingloo) if you’re interested.  
I want to hear your opinions!

_(small disclaimer: all of these links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you buy the books. However, I’ll only review books I’ve actually read, and have genuinely recommended to people in real life)_

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