Reader reviews

This is the one to get if you are serious about ai & machine learning.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

Excellent from start to finish. No filler, no padding.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with game development.

Very good, with a few caveats. The core material is strong.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. Fine, but there are stronger books on the same subject if you look around.

Solid and well-organised. A couple of chapters dragged a little.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.