10 Books That Data Scientists Must Read!

6 mins read

Before you get back to your bed to pick another Netflix series that would keep you occupied, take a deep breath and see what we have in store for you! With a shout-out to all the Data Scientists and Data Science lovers out there, we are back with a list of 10 books that you should read to stay on the trot. Step up and get ready to embark on the journey of self-development, progress, and growth with us!

Statistics: A Very Short Introduction

If you are a data scientist with roots in business or have an IT background, you should read this book that's specially designed to make you familiar with the basics of statistical techniques. Without diving into the details, it touches on the basics of crucial topics like probability distributions, decision trees, and regression analysis. Even though the name says it all, we would still like to emphasize that this book is quite short and will take only a couple of days for you to read it. 

You can download the PDF of the book here

Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans

Exploring the world of AI in vivid detail, this title amongst the many other books is a good read not only for data scientists but also for individuals interested in the field of AI and its future outcomes. Targeting the general public, the book uses simple language to explain computer vision and gives you a detailed idea of how computers think. Indulging in the topic of the future potential of AI, it also hints at the progress that the domain of Artificial Intelligence will see in the years to come. 

You can purchase the Kindle Edition of this book here

The Man Who Solved the Market

Dictating the story of a mathematician, Jim Simons, this is essentially a non-technical book that talks about a man who used statistics to trade stocks in a time when everybody else was busy implying instincts along with traditional fundamental analysis of the market. Where everybody in the market was suspicious of his ways in the beginning, it later made them comprehend the astonishing results this technique yielded. And thus, they started acknowledging the power of quant hedge funds, which, in today’s scenario, plays a crucial role in the financial industry. 

You can access the book’s PDF here

Lean Analytics

If you are somebody who works with data frequently or own a startup where you’d like to dive and explore the potential of its data, this book is highly recommended. It ensures that you are able to define vital metrics for your business on grounds of your business model. In addition, it helps you optimize them simultaneously, without letting you drown in a pile of metrics that are useless. 

Get a Kindle edition of the book here

Storytelling with Data

Suited for anybody who needs numbers to present results, sell their idea or merely tell a story at work, it is a must-have for business analysts and an essential read for data scientists. You can learn the techniques of data visualization that will help you showcase your model’s results as well as plot data and visualize it better. This is the kind of book that you will go back to, every time you’d like to revise your basic concepts. 

You can read the book here

The Business Forecasting Deal

An elementary textbook on the nuances of business forecasting, this book uncovers the most traditional ways of applying statistics and data in business applications. If you have prior knowledge of the time series and statistics, you’ll be able to do forecasts easily at work. Using a practical approach, this book covers all the necessary basics and reveals major myths. And even though the techniques mentioned in it might sound old-fashioned, they work incredibly well in the domain of forecasting in comparison to machine learning techniques. 

Lay your hands on the Kindle Edition of the book here

Data Strategy

Inclined more towards the business side of things, this book can prove to be useful to C-level people of an organization as well as executive managers. From helping you understand the hows of extracting data and valuable insights to making you familiar with essential techniques that can help you monetize it, this book is specifically designed to help you unveil the power of data. And in case you are a data scientist, you will be able to comprehend the ways in which you can deliver value to your organization with the help of data. 

You can buy the Kindle edition of the book here

The Book of Why 

If you too have heard the phrase, “correlation does not imply causation”, it is time to lay your hands on this book. Answering the unanswered questions of what exactly causation means and how we understand it, this book dives deep into its philosophical perspective and then brings out the tools of mathematics along with the other models to make things easy for you. Trust us, this book will change your outlook on cause and effect. 

You can access the free Audiobook here

Feature Engineering for Machine Learning

Overlooked quite sometimes, Feature Engineering is known to be one of the most crucial steps in data science workflow. With a detailed overview of the process, this book covers the necessary techniques, caveats as well as practical applications for better understanding. Because it comes with Python code along with mathematical explanations for most methods, it is important for you to possess a technical background in order to get well-versed with the book. 

You can download a free version of the book here

Moneyball

With the story of Paul DePodesta and Billy Beane, this book unwraps the importance of data. These two people managed to take a small baseball team, Oakland Athletics that comprised cheap overlooked players, to the Major League Baseball, through an excellent campaign. Do you know how they did it? Data, yes, they used data to choose their players. This technique later led to a major revolution in the way teams choose their players, which was earlier done by scouts on the basis of their instincts. To top it all, this story has also inspired a film which goes by the same name. 

You can download the free Ebook here

Selecting the finest books for this list, we have made sure that you are equipped with the necessary resources to level up your Data Science game. So Data Scientists, it is time to grab one of these books, read and plunge into unchartered territory. Happy reading!