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Best Stochastic Modeling

Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline
Doing Data Science is collaboration between course instructor Rachel Schutt, Senior VP of Data Science at News Corp, and data science consultant Cathy O’Neil, a senior data scientist at Johnson Research Labs, who attended and blogged about the course. Rachel Schutt is the Senior Vice President for Data Science at News Corp. She earned a PhD in Statistics from Columbia University, and was a statistician at Google Research for several years. She holds several pending patents based on her work at Google, where she helped build user-facing products by prototyping algorithms and building models to understand user behavior.
Reviews
"The book Doing Data Science not only explains what data science is but also provides a broad overview of methods and techniques that one must master in order to call one self a data scientist. However it is not to be considered as a text book about data science but more as a broad introduction to a number of topics in data science. I had for some time been looking for a book that could be used as a follow-up reading on topics in data science. The book begins with a chapter about what data science is all about is followed by four chapters on topics like statistical inference, explanatory data analysis, various machine learning algorithms, linear and logistic regression, and Naive Bayes. I really enjoyed the examination of time stamped data, the Kaggle Model, feature selection, and case-attribute data versus social network data. Data visualization is an integral part of data science for communication results. Topics that I did not found covered in any other book about data science. However the chapter about epidemiology is not about using data science in epidemiology but 'just' about using data science to evaluate the methods used in epidemiology. Personally I would prefer more details about the actual data science topics like e.g. extracting meaning from data and social network analysis and less focus on math. I really like the idea about having a lot of different people present various topics in data science and the book is well written and contains lots of useful resources for further studies of data science."
"Great text that provides a very informative overview of topics in Data Science."
"The books is fairly dated, a lot of the exercises have broken links/outdated code."
"The book is well written and provides good insights into how to form a foundational core to further one's education and experience in data analysis and visualization."
"However, the presentation of material makes it difficult for a student to quickly follow."
"I make my living working with businesses to help them build their analytic capabilities in sales and marketing, by working on real opportunities and generalizing lessons from specific experiences and results. But what I have learned is that if you push these past use as points of departure, and force them as points of arrival, results and learning suffer."
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Stochastic Processes: Theory for Applications
This definitive textbook provides a solid introduction to discrete and continuous stochastic processes, tackling a complex field in a way that instils a deep understanding of the relevant mathematical principles, and develops an intuitive grasp of the way these principles can be applied to modelling real-world systems. This definitive textbook provides a solid introduction to stochastic processes, covering both theory and applications.
Reviews
"(The author frequently even tells you what the goal of the exercise is -- this has motivated me to pursue 'unassigned problems' that I otherwise wouldn't have done.)."
"The book is a combination of the material from two MIT courses: (6.262) Discrete Stochastic Process and (6.432) Stochastic Processes, Detection, and Estimation."
"The best intro to stochastic processes available, bar none [and I have seen a lot of them] - also a companion to his GREAT, FREE course on the MIT Open Course website."
"The book covers puts emphasis on the application side of stochastic process."
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Introduction to Probability Models, Eleventh Edition
Updated data, and a list of commonly used notations and equations, instructor's solutions manual Offers new applications of probability models in biology and new material on Point Processes, including the Hawkes process Introduces elementary probability theory and stochastic processes, and shows how probability theory can be applied in fields such as engineering, computer science, management science, the physical and social sciences, and operations research Covers finite capacity queues, insurance risk models, and Markov chains Contains compulsory material for new Exam 3 of the Society of Actuaries including several sections in the new exams Appropriate for a full year course, this book is written under the assumption that students are familiar with calculus. Sheldon M. Ross is a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of Southern California.
Reviews
"This is a text written at an undergraduate level which assumes an excellent background in undergraduate probability (i.e., probability density functions, transformations of random variables, etc.)."
"Those who find this book too dense and uneasy are better off starting with Sheldon Ross's introductory book (A First Course in Probability)."
"Covers a wide range of topics, and is very helpful for a course in stochastics, especially for a student who doesn't have a strong background in P & SP."
"Gives you more than enough information about stuff you don't need to know and very little on the stuff you do need to know."
"As with all his books, this one is clearly written, with wonderful examples, and an intuitive approach."
"I used this book for an undergraduate course in Stochastic systems."
"If you are interested in learning probability and stochastic processes, Ross is excellent."
"Examples kind of jump all around, and rather than using them to demonstrate theorems; the examples are usually extrapolations of the theorems, making it difficult to follow and learn from."
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Best Statistics

Outliers: The Story of Success
In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. "In the vast world of nonfiction writing, Malcolm Gladwell is as close to a singular talent as exists today... Outliers is a pleasure to read and leaves you mulling over its inventive theories for days afterward.
Reviews
"I’ve read this book several times."
"Gladwell is always an interesting read/listen. I always grade up for personal narration by the author too. this provided some nice conversation fodder. but it left me feeling a bit: "so, what?""
"This is one of my favorite books."
"I found more than a few myths debunked in this book."
"What you realize after reading the book: individual success is fake - oftentimes it is the result of multiple factors contributing to a single outcome."
"I had to buy this book for a college course and I didn't have any idea what it was about but after just getting through the first 10 pages I was hooked!!"
"Chapter 7 on commercial airplane pilots was fascinating...thinking outside the box."
"The path to perceived success follows many stones."
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Best Biomathematics

Mathematical Biology: I. An Introduction (Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics) (Pt. 1)
It maintains a consistent level throughout so that graduate students can use it to gain a foothold into this dynamic research area. "Murray's Mathematical Biology belongs on the shelf of any person with a serious interest in mathematical biology." I recommend the new and expanded third edition to any serious young student interested in mathematical biology who already has a solid basis in applied mathematics." "Mathematical Biology would be eminently suitable as a text for a final year undergraduate or postgraduate course in mathematical biology … .
Reviews
"This book covers a large number of areas: simple population models, sex determination in crocodiles, mathematical models of marriage, biological oscillators, diffusion and chemotaxis, wave phenomena in biological systems and finally a brief discussion of fractals in biology (uses and misuses)."
"So useful for theoretician biologists !"
"This book is an excellent reference in the field."
"This is the bible, folks."
"Nice book, in great condition and it got in the right place at the right time."
"The applications of mathematics to biology are now exploding and this book is an excellent example of that."
"This text is simply an outstanding experince, not only for life science related issues, but relevant also for chemistry, physics, mathematics, and social sciences."
"This book is the first of two volumes by the author on the topic and is an important addition to a series of Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics volumes by the publisher."
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Best Probability & Statistics

An Introduction to Statistical Learning: with Applications in R (Springer Texts in Statistics)
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. “Written by four experts of the field, this book offers an excellent entry to statistical learning to a broad audience, including those without strong background in mathematics. … the book also demonstrates how to apply these methods using various R packages by providing detailed worked examples using interesting real data applications.” (Klaus Nordhausen, International Statistical Review, Vol. “The book is structured in ten chapters covering tools for modeling and mining of complex real life data sets. … The style is suitable for undergraduates and researchers … and the understanding of concepts is facilitated by the exercises, both practical and theoretical, which accompany every chapter.” (Irina Ioana Mohorianu, zbMATH, Vol. "The book excels in providing the theoretical and mathematical basis for machine learning, and now at long last, a practical view with the inclusion of R programming examples.
Reviews
"This is a wonderful book written by luminaries in the field."
"The book provides the right amount of theory and practice, unlike the earlier (venerable and, by now, stable) text authored (partly) by the last two authors of this one (Elements of Statistical Learning), which was/is a little heavy on the theoretical side (at least for practitioners without a strong mathematical background). It is, however, an excellent introduction to Learning due to the ability of the authors to strike a perfect balance between theory and practice. ISL is an excellent choice for a two-semester advanced undergraduate (or early graduate) course, practitioners trained in classical statistics who want to enter the Learning space, and seasoned Machine Learners. ____________________________________________. UPDATE (12/17/2013): Two of the authors (Hastie & Tibshirani) are offering a 10-week free online course (StatLearning: Statistical Learning) based on this book found at Stanford University's Web site (Starting Jan. 21, 2014)."
"Overall: I did not like both the content and quality of the book. The book is very heavy for the size, because the paper is thick and glossy."
"To read through the chapters, it's much more enjoyable than reading other math/stat books, since the ideas behind each model or algorithms are very clear even intuitive, a lot of well-made plots make the understanding even easier. Not saying the methods within this book is wrong, but without deep understanding of some theories or rigorous assumpions of the methods, pure blind trying different algorithms to find lowest MSE may not be suitable for some cases. If you want to check more beautiful scenes, you need more work, more tickets, more tools to take an adventure within this park for quite a while."
"Better to just buy an actual statistics book and learn the formulas so you understand what you are doing."
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Best Linear Programming

Introduction to Linear Optimization (Athena Scientific Series in Optimization and Neural Computation, 6)
This book provides a unified, insightful, and modern treatment of linear optimization, that is, linear programming, network flow problems, and discrete optimization. "The true merit of this book, however, lies in its pedagogical qualities which are so impressive..." "Throughout the book, the authors make serious efforts to give geometric and intuitive explanations of various algebraic concepts, and they are widely successful in this effort."
Reviews
"This a great text for an introduction to linear programming course."
"Recommended by a friend who is pursuing his Operation Research PhD degree."
"This book allowed me to understand linear optimization deeply without prior preparation."
"This is a very good introduction into linear programming, duality and related topics."
"The author does a good job of explaining all the concepts and providing examples and explanations for things."
"This book is impressive for theory, every thing you ever wanted to know or how to avoid some other is here."
"But otherwise, it is very well written and provides great insight into how to visualize problems, applications, and building up algorithms (primal and dual simplex, interior point methods) for solving linear programs."
"This book gives you all the most important aspects about integer programming and linear optimization, you only need basic knowledge in math to understand the proofs and these are explained in an expedited and easy way in order not to lose to the reader."
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Best Vector Analysis Mathematics

Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus (Fourth Edition)
This new fourth edition of the acclaimed and bestselling Div, Grad, Curl, and All That has been carefully revised and now includes updated notations and seven new example exercises. H. M. Schey is Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Reviews
"The text is a very easy read revealing that. the concepts of vector calculus are much simpler. and easier to understand than the fog of vector calculus. notation would seem to indicate."
"Great reference material for those of us who sorta kinda paid attention to vector calc."
"My prof for structural geology told me to get it."
"This is a great supplemental text to go along with a standard multivariate calculus textbook."
"really an amazing book highly recomended."
"Well written, informative but easy to understand."
"This book requires a pre-requesite course in. multi-variable calculus before one can really absorb it."
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Best Differential Equations

Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems
Written from the perspective of the applied mathematician, the latest edition of this bestselling book focuses on the theory and practical applications of Differential Equations to engineering and the sciences.
Reviews
"received and it is just as expected."
"Good condition, works well!"
"Good book for the basics!"
"Fairly good ODE's book."
"This book didn't get a lot of use by me because my diff-eq teacher didn't completely follow the book."
"I was expecting a new book, but what I received was a book that was CLEARLY used."
"This was purchased for a course that is associated with this book."
"This is basically a booklet of practice problems, as reading the chapters in between them is of no use."
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Best Graph Theory

Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten
We use tables and graphs to communicate quantitative information: the critical numbers that measure the health, identify the opportunities, and forecast the future of our organizations. He is also the author of Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring, Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis , and Signal: Understanding What Matters in a World of Noise .
Reviews
"For someone like me, a programmer interested in creating better user interfaces, this is a really good book."
"Based on the Personal MBA I picked up this book with the expectation that I might learn a few tricks about making graphs and tables for reports I produce."
"I purchased this as a textbook for an organizational communication class and now question the efficacy of such a class that does not make use of this book."
"I am thoroughly enjoying reading this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who has occasion to present quantitative information."
"Even this 75-year old professional learned a few tricks on making better tables and graphs."
"Steven Few's book is a must read for anyone who needs to find a better way to turn confusing data into useful information."
"This book has been so helpful in understanding the analytical and numerical side of infographics, in a very thorough and organized way."
"Great deep dive into visualizations."
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