Thursday, April 5, 2012

Programming Collective Intelligence by Toby Segaran; O'Reilly Media

First of all, I would say that at least a cursory knowledge of Python would help greatly in grasping and implementing the concepts in this book. The author is obviously quite fixated on Python; thus, code is written in Python, and sample data (as far as I can recall) all Python related.

The book is, however, a pretty good introduction to machine learning. Explanations are clearly laid out and concepts are well explained, making them easy to grasp. While it’s by no means a comprehensive study guide, it should whet your appetite for further study.

My suggestion: Seeing as this book can only cover so much, I feel a list of resources or a bibliography could be a nice addition to future versions. It would be really helpful to have suggestions of further material for a more in-depth study of the topic.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Godforsaken

I was really excited to read this book. I am fascinated by apologetic, and this book seemed right up my alley.

I was somewhat disappointed. It actually started off pretty well, but quickly got bogged down until I was slogging through page after page, trying to make it through. Honestly, I had a hard time finishing this book.

I'm not sure if it was the author's writing style, or what, but his way of tackling the problem of pain and suffering left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. The odd thing is, this book doesn't present anything particularly new or helpful to a Christian, yet it really isn't a book I'd offer to an unbeliever either. I wouldn't recommend this book.

I received a copy of this book free of charge from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to post a positive review; these opinions are my own.