The Complete Machine Learning Bookshelf

The Complete Machine Learning Bookshelf

Books are a fantastic investment. You get years of experience for tens of dollars.

I love books and I read every machine learning book I can get my hands on.

I think having good references is the fastest way to getting good answers to your machine learning questions, and having multiple books can give you multiple perspectives on tough questions.

In this guide, you will discover the top books on machine learning.

There are many reasons to want and read machine learning books. For this reason, I have grouped and listed machine learning books a number of different ways, for example:

• By Type: Textbooks, Popular Science, etc.
• By Topic: Python, Deep Learning, etc.
• By Publisher: Packt, O’Reilly, etc.

And much more.

All books are linked to on Amazon so that you can learn more about it and even grab it immediately.

I will keep this guide updated, bookmark it and check back regularly.

Let’s get started.

How to Use This Guide

1. Find a topic or theme that interests you the most.
2. Browse the books in your chosen section.
3. Purchase the book.
4. Read it cover-to-cover.
5. Repeat.

Owning a book is not the same as knowing its contents. Read the books you buy.

Have you read any machine learning books?
Share your what you have read in the comments below.

Machine Learning Books By Type

Popular Science Machine Learning Books

This is a list of popular science machine learning books aimed at a general audience.

They give a flavor of the benefits of machine learning or data science without the theory or application detail. I’ve also thrown in some relevant “statistical thinking” pop science books that I enjoyed.

• The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World
• Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die
• The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail–but Some Don’t
• Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data
• The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives

A top pick from this list is: The Signal and the Noise.

Beginner Machine Learning Books

This is a lost of machine learning books intended for beginners.

There is a flavor of the benefits of applied machine learning seen in pop science books (previous) and the beginnings of implementation detail seen more in introductory books (below).

• Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know about Data Mining and Data-Analytic Thinking
• Data Smart: Using Data Science to Transform Information into Insight
• Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques
• Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline

A top pick from this list might be: Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques.

Introductory Machine Learning Books

Below is a list of the top books for beginners that may be in an undergraduate course or developers looking to make their start.

They cover a wide range of machine learning topics focusing on the how rather than the theory and “why” of the methods.

• Machine Learning for Hackers: Case Studies and Algorithms to Get You Started
• Machine Learning in Action
• Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications
• An Introduction to Statistical Learning: with Applications in R
• Applied Predictive Modeling

A top pick from this list might be: An Introduction to Statistical Learning: with Applications in R.

Machine Learning Textbooks

Below is a list of the top machine learning textbooks. These are the books you will use in a graduate machine learning course, covering a wind range of methods and the theory behind them.

• The Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction
• Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
• Machine Learning: A Probabilistic Perspective
• Learning From Data
• Machine Learning
• Machine Learning: The Art and Science of Algorithms that Make Sense of Data
• Foundations of Machine Learning

A top pick from this might be: The Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction.

Machine Learning Books By Topic

Machine Learning With R

List of books on applied machine learning with the R platform.

• R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data.
• Machine Learning with R.
• Machine Learning With R Cookbook – 110 Recipes for Building Powerful Predictive Models with R.
• R Machine Learning By Example.
• R Machine Learning Essentials.
• Mastering Machine Learning with R
• An Introduction to Statistical Learning: with Applications in R.
• Practical Data Science with R
• Applied Predictive Modeling.
• R and Data Mining: Examples and Case Studies

A top pick from this list is: Applied Predictive Modeling.

Machine Learning With Python

List of top books on applied machine learning with the Python and SciPy platforms.

• Python Machine Learning
• Data Science from Scratch: First Principles with Python
• Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn and TensorFlow: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques for Building Intelligent Systems
• Introduction to Machine Learning with Python: A Guide for Data Scientists
• Vital Introduction to Machine Learning with Python: Best Practices to Improve and Optimize Machine Learning Systems and Algorithms
• Machine Learning in Python: Essential Techniques for Predictive Analysis
• Python Data Science Handbook: Essential Tools for Working with Data
• Introducing Data Science: Big Data, Machine Learning, and more, using Python tools
• Real-World Machine Learning

A top pick from this list is probably: Python Machine Learning.

Deep Learning

List of books on deep learning. There are few good books to choose from at the moment, so I have gone for quantity over quality.

• Deep Learning
• Deep Learning: A Practitioner’s Approach
• Fundamentals of Deep Learning: Designing Next-Generation Machine Intelligence Algorithms
• Learning TensorFlow: A guide to building deep learning systems
• Machine Learning with TensorFlow
• TensorFlow Machine Learning Cookbook
• Getting Started with TensorFlow
• TensorFlow for Machine Intelligence: A Hands-On Introduction to Learning Algorithms

The clear top pick is from this list is: Deep Learning.

Time Series Forecasting

List of top books on time series forecasting.

The applied side of time series forecasting is dominated by the R platform at the moment

• Time Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control
• Practical Time Series Forecasting with R: A Hands-On Guide
• Introduction to Time Series and Forecasting
• Forecasting: principles and practice

A top introductory book is Forecasting: principles and practice.

Machine Learning Books By Publisher

There are three publishers that have gone after machine learning hard and are really cranking out books.

They are: O’Reilly, Manning and Packt.

Their focus is on applied books and the quality of books on that list does vary greatly, from well designed and edited, to a bunch of blog posts stabled together.

O’Reilly Machine Learning Books

O’Reilly have 100s of books related to their “data” initiative, many of which are related to machine learning.

I cannot possibly list them all, see the related links. Below are a few best sellers.

• Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications
• Introduction to Machine Learning with Python: A Guide for Data Scientists
• Deep Learning: A Practitioner’s Approach
• Fundamentals of Deep Learning: Designing Next-Generation Machine Intelligence Algorithms
• Data Science from Scratch: First Principles with Python
• Python Data Science Handbook: Essential Tools for Working with Data

The book Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications might have launched this direction and has been popular for a long time.

Related Links

• O’Reilly Data Portal
• O’Reilly Data Products
• Machine Learning Starter Kit: Automate Analysis Through Patterns in Data

Manning Machine Learning Books

Manning books are practical and of a reasonable quality. They don’t have a catalog of 100s of books (yet) like O’Reilly and Packt.

• Machine Learning in Action
• Real-World Machine Learning
• Introducing Data Science: Big Data, Machine Learning, and more, using Python tools
• Practical Data Science with R

The stand-out in the Manning catalog is Machine Learning in Action perhaps again because it may have been the first in their catalog on machine learning.

Related Links

• Manning Data Science Books
• Manning Machine Learning Books

Packt Machine Learning Books

It feels like Packt have gone all in on data science and machine learning books.

They have titles on a large range of esoteric libraries and multiple books on popular topics like R and Python.

Below are some of the more popular titles.

• Machine Learning with R
• Python Machine Learning
• Practical Machine Learning
• Machine Learning in Java
• Mastering .NET Machine Learning

Additional Resources

Below are some of the resources that I used to compile this guide as well as additional lists of machine learning books that you may find useful.

• Amazon Best Sellers in Machine Learning
• Awesome Machine Learning Books
• How do I learn machine learning? Answer Wiki on Quora
• Reddit Machine Learning FAQ

Summary

I have tried to compile the largest and most complete list of machine learning books.

Have you read one or more of the books in this guide? Which ones and what did you think of them?

Did you buy a new book? Which one?

Did I miss a great machine learning book, let me know in the comments below.

About Jason Brownlee

Dr. Jason Brownlee is a husband, proud father, academic researcher, author, professional developer and a machine learning practitioner. He is dedicated to helping developers get started and get good at applied machine learning. Learn more.