★★★★★ 5
The definitive guide to becoming a researcher in the field
Format: Hardcover
This is not a coding book. I see a lot of negative reviews around the expectation that this book would teach the reader how to quickly build machine learning systems and write code. This book is not for that audience.
If you just want to build applications, don't worry about how deep learning works. It's akin to needing to understand how an engine works just to drive a car. If you are looking for a coding resource, try: https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Machine-Learning-Scikit-Learn-TensorFlow/dp/1492032646/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=machine+learning+tensorflow&qid=1579608765&sr=8-4 . And even with that book, the material still goes far beyond what you need - use it as a light reference.
I bought this book as an aspiring machine learning researcher, and towards that end, it is the best resource available in print (still true as of 2020). For instance:
The first 5 chapters are timeless. These are things that were mostly established 20 or 30 years ago and beyond and are mostly STEM fundamentals at this point. There are whole textbooks dedicated to each of those chapters, but the authors provide a quick refresher and overview of probably 80% of what you'll encounter in deep learning. If you haven't previously learned each of these subtopics, you'll probably want to study them individually since they are the key to innovating (linear algebra, probability & stats, numerical computation, machine learning fundamentals).
Chapters 6 thru 9 are the foundation of deep learning. We're about 12 years into seeing rapid change in the deep learning space, yet all of these principles and techniques still hold (many recent innovations are still relying on Convolutional models in 2020, which is the most layered/complex topics in those chapters). Therefore, I'd wager that these chapters are also fairly stable knowledge that is worth internalizing if you want to be deeply involved in the future of machine learning.
Chapters after 9 are mostly experimental topics, and many of them are already the wrong strategies for optimal results. But there are interesting ideas in here that you'll often encounter in the wild, so it's good exposure to various topics. But probably not worth much of your time.
And lastly, there is good history in here from people who know the space intimately. It's a good way to piece together the developments and learn the lexicon of deep learning so you can have intelligent conversation with experts.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2020